Streams Join to Become Rivers
by 1sniperwolf
Summary: If a persons life is a stream, then when they meet the person they are meant for, they become a river. But sometimes those streams split again. Now entering the Dirge of Cerberus.
1. Chapter 1

Streams join to become Rivers

_**Darkness… it's oppressive in here, it never lets up. Not that I disserve the darkness to let up. My sins, their deaths, haunt me even now, twenty-five years after they happened. And I disserve to be haunted by them. This is my punishment, my curse, and my destiny to be stuck in this coffin. Someone like me doesn't belong under the same sky as Lucrecia was under. Lucrecia, my poor Lucrecia, you died because I wasn't strong enough to protect you, to not listen to my orders just because they were my orders. I wasn't even strong enough to be able to save your son from Hojo. Worse, I couldn't stop him from destroying your soul even after you had died. No, I belong here, in this coffin, with my sins to haunt me, the memories of the pain of what Hojo did to my arm surfacing after the pain of watching you die. I belong here with the rest of the demons**_.

_That's right, you're being punished. You failed to protect the woman you say you loved, and so you were put in here. Or did you allow yourself to be put in here? You were strong before we came, Vincent. And with us here, you are more than strong enough to get out of this coffin and to make amends. As much as I enjoyed watching you suffer for twenty-five years, I'm afraid that being one with that part of you that is still human has made me…emotional. I know you can get out of here and atone for your sins, and I'm willing to help._

**_Shut up, you damn mutt. You have no idea what an emotion is or how strong I am. You only know how to kill._**

**I am forced to agree Galian Beast, Vincent. Being inside of you has given us emotions. We know sadness, joy, and love. And we know that you're still in this coffin because you're afraid. Not of Hojo, or any monster out there, but of forgiveness. You're afraid that you might be forgiven of your sins and that you might forgive yourself. The wood around us is not holding you back, it never was.**

**_Be quiet demon, just be quiet! And before you two say something, shut up! I don't need the advice of a mutt, a monster made from the corpses of others, a lunatic with a chainsaw, or a demon! None of you know what you're talking about. None of you could ever feel love! And none of you could know whether or not I was strong enough!_**

**Then why don't you just end it, give your soul over to the planet. Let her judge you. Do you need help? Just relax your claw and I can end it, and you would be given the chance to pay for 'your' sins.**

**_Hell Mask, be quiet or I'll…_**

_You'll what?_ Death Gigas inserted._ You'll do nothing because we are only voicing what you are thinking deep down where even you have no control over what is said. And besides that, how would you do it anyway?_

Vincent could only seethe with anger through all of this. He was mad that he lost control over his emotions like he did. But he was also mad that they were right. And that made it worse. _**Good night you four.**_

**We are not leaving it like this, Vincent. There is more to say.**

**_Say all you four want. I'm going to sleep._**

**Hold it Vincent!**

But it was too late; he was already asleep, where not even their voices could reach him. This dream was new though; it wasn't dreams of his sins. It was calm, peaceful. Vincent was standing on open plains, when he looked to his left and right he saw good memories, not sad ones. And he saw them from the sidelines. To his left were he and Lucrecia having lunch in Midgar, where they first met. And to his right was Lucrecia telling him that she was pregnant. When she had found that out, she was happier then she had been in months so he had been happy.

Watching these, Vincent felt something go down his cheek. When he raised his hand to it, he found it was a tear. "I thought I couldn't cry anymore." "You can't," came from a soft voice from behind him. When Vincent spun around, he saw a woman he had never seen before. She wasn't that tall, five, six at the most. She had long, flowing, dark blond hair with green eyes. She was wearing a simple but elegant dress, but no shoes. She was very beautiful, and Vincent found it hard to believe someone could be that beautiful. "What do you mean?" "On that day twenty-five years ago, you made a barrier around you heart that no tear or new love could ever get out. But dreams are part of the heart. Your fears, hopes, hurts, and joys are all here, laid bare for the person to see." "Who are you, and why are you here?" "Who I am isn't as important as to why I'm here. I need your help Vincent Valentine. The eight has been selected to save the planet, fate has seen to that. But they will need your help to face what is ahead of them. One in particular, and she is very important to me. You two walk a similar path and she will need your help most of all."

Distantly, he heard someone call his name. When he turned to his right he saw a person so far away, not even his eyes could see what this person looked like. Turning back to the women, he said "why me? What can I do for that person that no one else can do? And why am I even considering listening to this dream? It is a dream after all." "Because you know what is at stake when the rarest of chips are put down. It's not my place to tell you about the second one, you need find out what that is on your own. But as for the third, you know that this is not a dream. Please listen to me, Vincent; you will never be able to redeem yourself if you don't start forgiving yourself. Get out of this coffin and find Lucrecia, see if she blames you."

Everything started getting foggy around Vincent and he realized that this dream was coming to a closure. "Wait, you never said who you are." She smiled a kind smile at him, one a mother wears when looking at her son or daughter. "If you think about it, you'll realize who I am."

With those words said, Vincent woke up. **About time you woke up! You've been asleep for three days! _What do you mean, Chaos?_ I mean seventy-two HOURS has pasted sense you fell asleep! What were you dreaming of, you were smiling allot and at one point, a tear even slid down your cheek! I didn't even know you could still cry. Your not going soft on us now, are you?**

Vincent closed his thoughts to the ravings of the four demons that had taken up residence in his head. And started thinking about the dream that he just had. A woman that beautiful can't possibly exist, can she? Then, it suddenly burst into his mind whom she was. _**Was, was she the planet? Could she have been the very soul of the planet?**_ He spent the rest of the day thinking on this

Yuffie had been running through the forest near Gongaga running as fast as she could to get far away from those punks. "What a bunch of wanna bes. If they couldn't handle me, how do they think that they could possible make it as monster hunters. Ha ha, they did come nicely equipped for the job though, I'll give them that." Stopping when she got far enough, she looked through the bag full of materia and a few in her pockets. There was several basic magic and independent materias. One of the Lighting materias was even mastered. But that was it. Not an All among the bunch that she could see. Putting those from her pockets on the ground, she dumped the bag. Shifting through them, she discovered two Alls and an Added Effect. As she was putting the materia into a larger sack so all would fit, she noticed that not ten feet away was a mako fountain.

Finishing what she was doing, she walked over to it. It was taller than she was with several openings that mako streamed out of. "I'm kind of glad the reactor exploded or this would have dried up by now." She sat down and just stared at it for a few minutes before she noticed that at the bottom was a couple of materias that were not completely formed yet and a fully formed Command materia. Reaching down and picking it up, she saw that it was a Throw materia. **_My father may get all the other materia collected today but you are staying with me._** She put it in her shuriken, and pulled out a whistle. She put it to her lips and made a long note that no human could hear. With nothing else to do, she sat down by the fountain and waited. Two minutes later, a hawk with a six-foot wingspan landed in front of her, expectantly. She gave the hawk the bag and it flew off for home.

**_With that done, I might as well camp here for the night._** She stayed awake just long enough to put up her tent and that's it. Her last thoughts were on her deceased mother and how she was glad that she couldn't see what she had to do. Her mother had wanted her to be the best ninja there has ever been, not the best thief there has ever been.

Her thoughts also wandered to when her mother had told her that if you ever find a mako fountain with a materia in it, taking the materia would bring you good luck. She didn't say where that luck would concentrate though. She just said 'I'll tell you when you're older and will understand the importance. But if you ever find a person that you truly love, you should give that materia to him."

But she wasn't able to tell her. When she was seven, her mother became ill and couldn't be moved from her bed. Her father, Godo, spent all his time with her, ignoring his duties and his daughter. Her mother was sick for a long time before she died, and the father that Godo was died with her. He became distant to everyone, to Yuffie the most. When she turned thirteen, her father sent her away to gain materia, the one thing Shinra had over them during the war that they lost. Gaining materia for Wutai has been the only thing that has kept her going through all of this. She has been alone for so long and she was tired of it.

In her dream she found herself on the plains not far from where she fell asleep. To her left she saw her mother and herself in the courtyard outside of her father's house, practicing martial arts. She had been so happy when her mother agreed to teach her that she didn't tire for three day, even with the training. When she looked to her right, she saw her mother at the piano, playing a song called the Moonlight Sonata, one of their favorites. Seeing these made her so very happy that she never wanted to wake up.

"Hello child." Yuffie turned around to see a grown women standing behind her. She had long, dark blond hair and green eyes and her smile was like her mother's was. "How are you doing Yuffie?" Something about her said that telling her the truth would be okay. "I'm tired of being alone. I miss my mother, I wish she had never gone away."

The sadness that had been threatening to overflow for months now finally came out and Yuffie kneeled down and covered her face with her hands as she started crying like she did when her mother had pasted away. The woman in front of her had knelt down beside her and was holding her, saying it was okay to cry and to let it all out. After a few minutes, she finally stopped and looked at the woman and said, "Who are you." She looked back and said, "I your mother, I'm the mother of everything you have seen and everyone you have met." "You mean your Terra!" "Yes, that right." The last traces of her tears disappeared as she stared at her. "W…why would you appear before me?" "Because you were alone and hurting. It pains me to see any of my children hurt. Tell me, can you be alone for a little while longer before you finally find the purpose your searching for?" "Yes, but what do you mean?"

At that moment, She heard someone call her name from behind her. Looking behind her, she saw someone just outside her clear line of sight so she couldn't tell what he or she looked like. "I mean that person. Do you want to meet him?" Yuffie's heart jumped at the chance of not being alone anymore and quickly said yes. "Then go to the forest near Junon and Fort Condor. Once there, listen to your instincts. Okay, Yuffie?" She nodded yes and everything started getting foggy, "then sleep well."

Yuffie awoke to what seemed like the next morning but she had a hunch that it had been longer then that. When her stomach let out a growl that scared a monster away, she confirmed that it had been awhile. After eating breakfast, she packed up her gear and headed for Costa del Sol, not really knowing what to expect but hoping for the best.

Terra looked at her handy work and smiled. These two were destined to save the planet and go back to how their lives had been, one alone in the mansion, the other alone in Wutai, never finding peace or love. But with her doing what she did, the path before them is clean and new. Doing this was the least she could do for them, their lives have been so hard up tell now. The only down side is that now, they might not be able to stop what is to come. Smiling, she knew though, that they would do it. She just hoped they wouldn't be alone after it's all said and done. She couldn't help but sigh when she thought about how mad Fate is going to be at her. "Oh well, how long could he stay mad for, five centuries, six? We have nothing but time on our hands."

Author's notes

This is my first fan fiction. I hope you all like it. You don't have to review but I hope you do.

Let's see, (flipping threw a notepad) what's left? Oh yeah, the disclaimer! I don't own Final Fantasy 7; I never have or never will. That honor goes to Square Enix. Nor do I own any of the characters mentioned above except Terra. God she is so beautiful, ahem. I modeled her after a girl I met once and fell I love with. Too bad I was never able to tell her that. Bah ha ha! Oh well, time moves on and you find new people to care for. Ludwig Van Beethoven wrote the Moonlight Sonata, it is not a name I just used for the sake of the story. It is a beautiful piece, try listening to it. Take care all readers and reviewers.

P.S.- for those who have not figured out who is speaking when, here is the answer, the type of font determines who is talking- _Galian Beast, _**Chaos**, **Hell Mask**, _Death Gigas_, and last but not least, **_Vincent Valentine_** and **_Yuffie Kisaragi_**.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Yuffie was walking through the woods near Junon, as she was told too, not particularly happy as to how she got there. The boat from Costa del Sol was rocking so much the she lost her lunch only five minutes after she left. When she landed at Junon, she ran to the nearest bathroom because of the final lurch the ship made before docking. "That meal tasted allot better going down than up."

Not knowing how long she was going to stay there, she found a tree by a stream where the root system had made a cave under the tree that the inside was big enough for her tent to be set up but the opening was only big enough for her to crawl in. Covering the opening with some brush, she went about gathering food for the stay. Once that was done, she was at a lost as to what to do next.

Well, she said go with my instincts, so maybe I should just do what I normally do. You know, I think that she left me like this so I don't keep looking to what she said for advice. Then first is to find a good ambush spot, if I don't find materia for my father soon, he'll send what's left of the Wutai army to kick my ass for not being faster.

She went looking for the site, planning on setting a bunch of traps in the spots she guessed a person would run to first. And she found exactly what she needed. Along a path that cut through the woods, there was a small clearing with several trees encircling it so the canapé blocked out any light that would get in. There were only a few openings in the trees big enough for an adult to go threw, not counting the path exit. And from the trees, you can see all of the clearing but leaves and branches made you invisible from the ground.

She first set up several trip wires at the non-path entrance and exit, connecting them to small shurikens and throwing daggers. They were coated with a sleeping powder that wouldn't lose its effect until it was used or it got wet. The powder was powerful enough to put all but the toughest opponents to sleep and those that don't would be a little sluggest. Over the path exit, she made a makeshift gate from branches to stop people from going that way when the right group came through, and hid it with leaves and such. In the trees, she put more shurikens and daggers that would fire when she pulled a string, but these were to help those down below go where she wanted.

And finally she put a small bomb in the middle of the clearing. The bomb wouldn't explode per say but make a loud bang and a bright flash and only when she wanted. With them disoriented, she'll drop the gate and pull one or two or the shuriken strings to get them going. When it is all over with, she'll just go down and grab the materia. And if any are still moving, well, she did have a new materia she needed to power up.

With that all said and done, she returned to her camp, had a small meal of sushi and egg rolls and went to sleep. And she dreamed of who that man could possible be and what he looked like.

The next morning, she finished the leftovers and cleaned up at the stream. When she returned to the site, she found a wandering monster had triggered one of the trip wires. She killed the monster and cleaned the dagger and replaced it at the launch point. Then she got into position and waited for someone to go through. The first person was an items dealer and the second was a farmer, going to sell his produce at Junon. She struck lucky at the third party to go through. They looked like experienced fighters so their materia had to be very powerful.

Oh my gawd! Is that a Summon! I have to have it! There were five of them, two men, one with a huge sword, a hard edge if she had to guess, the second man had a gun for his right hand. There were two women, a materia artist; she's going to be trouble, and what appears to be a white mage; she won't be. The final one she couldn't even tell what it was. It looked kind of like a mix between a tiger and a dog. What she could tell was that it was a fighter and it would be more trouble than it was worth if it wasn't put asleep on the first go.

When the party was in the middle of the clearing, she pulled the string to ignite the flash/bang bomb and drop the gate. "HOLY SHIT!" "AGHH!" "WHAT THE HELL!" Yuffie pulled a string for a shuriken to go for the cat/dog thing. Like she thought it would, it jumped out of the way and landed on a trip wire. She doubted that it even felt the dagger hit its butt before falling asleep. "Red XIII," the white mage called out and went to help him but unsure if it was safe the way he went so she went around the tree… into another trip wire. The shuriken only scratched her but that was enough. She pulled three more, going for the martial artist. But the man with the sword blocked them.

He reoriented himself rather fast. The three that was left had formed a defensive triangle and were going nowhere. "What about those two," asked the woman? "Take a look at their breathing. They're okay, they are just asleep," said the man with the sword. "Alright! Where the #& is this attacker then?" "Not sure, the throwing stars are coming from different locations but only once. So they are only traps. But I'm sure the person pulling the strings is in those trees. So lets blast them!" Oh shit!

In a Fire, Ice, and a hail of bullets, the branches surrounding the clearing were gone, and still no attacker. But the other traps were revealed and the pull strings all led to one point. At this spot Barret let loose so many bullets that the tree was cut in two, thinking the attacker had slipped behind the tree. He didn't see her but she was there. She was flat against a branch under the spot and staring wide eyed at the bullets going through the space she had just occupied.

"Where is he?" Tifa asked to no one in particular. "I don't know," Cloud answered back anyway. Yuffie had slipped off the branch to the one below her. And using the trees as cover, got behind the three that remained. It might not be my forte', but I'll fight the rest of this with honor. Jumping down, she called to them "Over here," so the fight would start.

"Huff, huff, wheeze." Yuffie laid on the ground where she had her butt handed to her by these three. "That's a girl," Aeris said after being shaken awake. "She did all that," Red XIII said, only believing it because the wound he was nursing. "Believe it or not, she did," Cloud said to him. "Hey, wake up!"

Yuffie brought her knees to her chest and threw them out, making her jump into the middle of the group. "You spikey-headed jerk! One more time, let's go one more time!" "Not interested." She put her hands on her hips and said, rather arrogantly, "You're pretty scared of me, huh?" "…Petrified."

As she turned to leave she noticed more the one of them had respect in their eyes for the skills she displayed. Except the big man, who look like he really regretted missing her that time.

When she was outside the group, an idea strucked her. "I'm really gonna leave! REALLY!" "Wait a second!" She couldn't help but smile at how well the leader had taken the bait; hook line, and sinker. "You want me to go with your, right?" "…That's right." She put a finger to her jaw and thought about it for a moment. "All right! I'll go with you!" "…Let's hurry on." "Wait! I haven't even told you my name… it's Yuffie, pleased to meet you. Um, if it's not to much trouble, can I get my equipment?" "Sure."

She went about getting the shurikens and throwing daggers that were used and then those that weren't. And they were surprised at how many they had missed seeing. Next she grabbed the trip wires and pull strings. And finally went back up the trail to her camp, which they had past not half an hour earlier. "And can I use that steal materia? Pretty please." Cloud just rolled his eyes and said, "let's go." "Oh, I'm sorry about your butt Red XII."

Vincent had finally told them about the dream and asked what they thought about it. _Well, if it'll get you out of this box, sure, let's go for it. Now let's pound our way out of here. All those for. Aye. _**Aye. **_Aye._ **Aye**_. Those against. **Nay!** The ayes have it. Let's get out of HERE!_ Galian Beast grabbed control of Vincent's right hand and sent it into the coffin lid. "OW! You damn mutt! No matter how strong you are, if there is no room to hit something, no force will be behind it!" _Oops, sorry Vincent. So what are we supposed to do?_ **_We wait, that's all there is to do._**

Author's notes

Yay, the second one is finally done! How was the fight scene, was it too much or not enough. Let's see, oh right, the disclaimer. I do not own Final Fantasy 7 and, sadly, never will (tear drop). Nor do I own any character in Final fantasy 7. I do own Terra, mentioned in the first chapter, but that is all. For those wondering about the title, allow me to tell you. A person's life is a stream until it joins another's and the two become a river. Enjoy.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Yuffie had never hated her luck so much. The first boat ride here was bad enough, but this time who ever was driving this boat had about as much experience as a snake does. "I really should have asked for more than one of those tranquilizers from Cloud."

To get her mind off the rocking, she started thinking about what all has transpired over the last few days sense she had join. It became apparent that Barret didn't like her, no matter what she tried so she decided that she would need to go about doing a different tactic. If only she had an idea what that would be.

Red XIII was only mad at her for how long he was sore, and with a cure spell, that wasn't long. Cloud just accepted her in the party and didn't seem to think twice about anything concerning her. But she could tell that he was starting to look at her as somewhat of a little sister. It could get annoying in fights but she couldn't find fault in him. Like she said, it was only annoying and it was just misplaced concern.

And Aeris and Tifa hit it off from the get go. They became close friends in such a short time that the other three was dumbfounded at how fast it was. Those two tried their best to get Yuffie to open up and tell them about her past but she couldn't. If she did, would they still allow her to stay with the group? She did tell them about what she was doing. And they seemed to take it in rather good stride.

"Well that makes since about why you attacked us. We do seem to be collecting quiet a few materias." This came from Aeris but this came from Barret. "A DAMN THEIF! We should get rid of her before she steals our materia!" Yuffie only looked down at her feet while he was saying this and was expecting to him to say more. But when he didn't, she looked up to see why. And what she found was Tifa and Aeris giving him glares that would kill if he didn't shut up

He stopped after that but his opinion wouldn't change about her. That is until a monster started attacking this girl in the harbor. Cloud was there first so when he called out for help, everyone came running. To make a long battle short, she settled a few things during it.

She was able to get Cloud out of this bubble that the snake kept putting around him so she proved to him that she could take care of herself he didn't have to. And as for Barret, he was going to be eaten when the snake caught him off guard. The only reason it didn't was because she was keeping an eye out for spots people needed help. When the snake started down to eat him, she took the opening to slash it across its right eye. As she fell away, Aeris activated the Summon, ChocoMog to finish it off.

Barret just stared at her, trying to figure out what was going on but she had already forgotten him and went over to Pricilla. She wasn't breathing so Cloud had to perform CPR on her. When she started coughing, everyone let out a sigh of relief. As they headed for the stairs, Barret came up to her to try his best at an apology. "Look pes... Yuffie, I was wrong about you. You're still a thief in my opinion. But I was wrong." "Don't worry about it Barret, I'm sure you would have done the same for me." She left it at that and walked away, leaving Barret feeling guilty.

The next morning came more quickly then she would have preferred and her body protested as she got up. It was then that she noticed the music. As she headed outside, she saw Cloud talking to Pricilla when she gave him her amulet. Going to look at it, she saw it was in fact Shiva. "WHOA!" Everyone looked at her because they hadn't noticed that. "Take a look inside this ruby," she said. When they did, they saw a woman lying on her back, in the snow, waving at them. "Well, I'll be," came from Aeris.

After that, she lost interest with what they were saying until they started talking about going up. "I know a way." But no body seemed to be listening. She said it a few more time before they broke up. Pricilla went over to cloud and told her she knew the way up and started heading for the beach. Cloud called over his shoulder "Find anyway you can get up," and went down the stairs.

"Why do adults have to do things the hard way? And why don't they listen to someone younger then them, especially when they know something they don't." "Don't know," came from her side. She looked down at Red XIII and smiled. "As you were saying Yuffie." "I know the guard, I've been through here a few time, and I'm sure he'll let me up." "What about me?" "Not sure. Can you get on that overhang above the elevator?" "Yes" "Okay, let's go."

Red XIII moved into position and Yuffie went over to him. "Hello James." "Hello Yuffie, how can I help you? Like I don't already know. Let me guess, you what to go back over to the other continent? Or do you want to go see the coronation of President Rufus?" "The boat, I have finished before I though would so I'm going home." "Well, I'm under orders not to let anyone up the elevator until the coronation is over, but I don't think letting you up will hurt. Besides, I owe you a few favors." Turning his head to look around to see if anyone was watching, he looked back to her. "The usual price to cover the elevator, five gil. Oh, and when you get up top, there are some uniforms in the locker room. I think one of the sailor uniforms might fit you," he said this when a grin, knowing how she is on boats. "Put it on so no one will bother you. Just about even now." "Yeah, just about, here's your fee." He stepped out of the way to let her on and Red XIII jumped in.

Yuffie and Red XIII found the uniforms right where he said they would be. "You know, even if I'm in a uniform, I'll still stick out with you with me." "What should we do then?" Yuffie smiled at this, "well, we could put a collar and a least around your neck and pretend I'm taking my dog for a walk." "If you look closely, you'll see that I'm not laughing."

Still smiling, "then we have to put you in one of these uniforms." At this, he was almost tempted to say 'where's the collar?' but he kept quiet. "Here you go Red XIII, this should fit you."

Yuffie couldn't stop laughing at how he looked trying to stand and walk as a human does. Then she made a mock salute, seeing that his uniform was a sergeant's, "sir, we should leave before someone comes in, sir. HA ha ha"

They headed along the street and soon, she saw the others following her and Red XIII. Took them long enough, she thought. She looked around and found Cloud wasn't with them, I wonder what's keeping him. Distantly she heard someone yelling, "Move it, move it! You better not mess today up, rookie, my promotion is on the line!"

Then she took a good look at Barret and the words just slipped out. "A marshmallow!" Barret almost tripped at this and everyone else started laughing. "He does look like a marshmallow, doesn't he?" Aeris said when she could stop laughing. All Barret could do to keep from agreeing with them was clench his teeth and growl.

Then they were on the ship and she ended up right here, getting seasick. "Speaking of which, EVERYONE GET OUT OF MY WAY!" She said this as she ran for the nearest porthole and stayed there for about twenty minutes.

An alarm rang though out the ship and she went for the deck. "What's going on?" When she made it to the group, she saw they were all there. "If your all here, then what was the alarm for," Cloud asked when he got there. "ALL SOLDIERS ON BOARD, KEEP ON THE LOOK OUT FOR SEPHIROTH! REPEAT, SEPHIROTH IS ON BOARD!" "Oh," was all Yuffie could say.

"Sephiroth," Cloud said this as if his mind was far away from where they were. "Alright, let's go get him." Yuffie thought about what he had just said and what she knew about Sephiroth. She didn't know all that much, just that he was the driving force behind the Shinra attack on Wutai. She looked at Cloud and calmly stated what she thought. "You're nuts."

"No one said you had to come, brat," Barret stated at her. "No, no, if I don't come with you and you get hurt, Marshmallow, I'll never forgive myself" Barret glared at her but let it drop. "Let's go."

When they got to the cargo hold, everyone was dead, all killed by someone with a sword. "I see that the rumors about his strength wasn't exaggeration." "No they weren't Yuffie, but I doubt that they," referring to the dead, "were a challenge for him while he was sane, I don't want to think about whether or not he had stopped pulling his punches." "And why are we after him again?" "He needs to be stopped Yuffie, that's why." They went through the door at the bottom of the stairs and found him, talking to himself.

After he noticed them, he left, leaving Jenova behind to deal with them. It wasn't particularly hard to beat and Yuffie said so. "That wasn't Jenova." "WHAT!" "That was only her hand, I doubt it had one tenth the power the real thing has. Let's go." "Not before I grab this," Yuffie said, reaching down to pick a Summon materia. "Take a Look inside," she said showing it to every one. Inside was a demon, surrounded by fire.

"It looks just like the brat." Yuffie was about to give a retort when Tifa came to her aid. "I would never have thought you would think Ifrit was that handsome, Barret." "Barret, before you open your mouth," Cloud said to him, "you should probably realize that you're out numbered, out matched, and out gunned." He walked out of the room, along with a few others. Yuffie placed Ifrit in his hands and said; "I wonder what roasted marshmallow with chocolate taste like." And then she left.

She was walking along the Costa del Sol road thinking about the materia she had seen them collect so far. A group with three Summoning materia is hard to find, a group with one is hard to find and here I am in a group with three. Aeris has ChocoMog, Cloud has Shiva, and Barret now has Ifrit. Or maybe, he'll give it to Red XIII. It does match his tail. Thoughts of materia eventually led to her father and why he had sent her away from Wutai. He'll be wondering where the next shipment of materia is by now. What will I do, I can't steal the materia from my friends.

And as if thinking of them brought them to her, Tifa and Aeris came over to her. "Hey Yuffie, we have something for you," Tifa said. "What?" "A gift for all the help you've been so far," Aeris picked up. She handed Yuffie a yellow materia. "We know it's not the Steal you wanted but it's close. And I've always thought it better that you work to make something great, not have something great given to you."

Yuffie just stared at the materia in her hands. This was her first gift sense her mother died and the first gift her friends had given her. Wait, they are my friends now, aren't they? Even Marshmallow is my friend. She threw her arms around them and said thank you, almost crying. "It okay, Yuffie. We're going down to the beach want to come?" "No, I have some thinking to do. Have fun."

As they walked away, she was left alone with her thoughts and new materia. Slipping it inside her Boomerang, a weapon that they stole from a machine near Junon, she went back to her thoughts. Stealing from them wouldn't be right, not after all we've been through. And even I'm not low enough to do that. But from where do I get them?

A store clerk shouting about materia caught her ear. As she looked over at him, she saw that he had stacks and stacks of materia, all safely behind the counter and in his house. I think those will work.

As she walked over to him, she caught his eye. "Hey cutesy, how would you like to work here." "Huh?" "I don't mean for long, just for the day or two you're here. I'll pay you for it. And I imagine that a cute girl like you would attract allot of customers. I'll pay you half of what each materia you sell, sells for, so the more you sell, the more you'll get. What do you say?" Yuffie smiled at all this materia just dropped in her lap. "Sure."

That night she walked in the inn they were staying and just fell on her bed. He wasn't kidding when he said she would attract customers, they seemed to come by the truckload. "He better pay me rather well tomorrow. And despite all that was sold, not even half of them had been touched."

She reached down and felt the bag full of gill. She had already counted it, exactly half of what was sold. Coming to a close at over three hundred thousand. But at that moment she didn't care, all she cared for was how comfortable this bed was. And why she couldn't keep her eyes open…any…longer.

They would leave tomorrow morning, Cloud had informed her when she woke up. Giving plenty of time to earn more money and to get the materia. When she came out of the inn, she saw more then a few boys waiting for her to come out. "Sigh, this is going to be a long day." And she was right, because as soon as she got behind the counter, the request for materia came and never stopped.

She was amazed that the storeowner had so much materia, and when she asked him about it, he said, "A shipments of Materia always comes with the boat. And, well, who would want to buy materia from me when there are pretty girls they could be staring at instead." "Makes perfect sense," she replied. "Okay, who wanted the Steal, Poison and Lightning and who wanted the Restore and Heal"

That night when every one of them finally got tired and broke, she was alone. She going through a box of weapon materia and placed some inside of several dozen sacks filled with materia, each with a different number and different amount of each type. She had enough bags here to last her a year with regular shipments to her father. When she placed the last materia inside a sack and closed them all, she placed them inside her bulging bag. She went inside the storeowner's house to see him making an inventory check on those inside. She looked around and noticed that there was a lot more room in there then before, A LOT more.

"Someone just came by and bought a whole bunch of Materia, roughly a hundred and fifty of each. Here is the gil for them." She tossed him a bag of money that held all the money it took to pay for all the materia she got from him. He looked at the bag and counted the amount inside. He was half way through when he said, "Didn't you mean you bought them?" "How, how did you know?" "You forgot to change the sack I gave you yesterday." She smacked her hand to her forehead and said "Oh geese." The owner was busy putting half the money she gave him into another sack and tossed it to her. "I believe that covers us." "But I just gave you that money!" "I know. And I also know that we agree you'd get half the price of each materia you sold, did we not? Now I don't know why you didn't want me to know that you bought those, and it's not my business to know. And beside for all the work you had done for me, you disserve all that you got paid for."

"Okay, but don't tell anyone that I bought them, please. If my father finds out I have them, he'll take them from me and then he'll learn about my friends and do his best to take theirs." "Okay, good night and sleep well." As she walked out, she looked in the bag and saw a total of four hundred, thirty seven thousand gil. She was so caught up in staring at it that she tripped and fell face first in the sand.

"What am I suppose to do with all this?" Before she could figure out what to do, she decided to give the first bag to her father. She took out the whistle and gave it a blow and waited. "What was that?" Red XIII said as he came out of the inn. "What? Oh, hi Red, that was just a whistle to call the bird that lives around here to come down here." "Why did you call it?" "Why did I call it? Um, it belongs to my father I need to give it a message to give to him. Oh I forgot to make it!"

She grabbed one of her pencils and papers and finished the note by the time the Red Tailed hawk landed. Getting between it and Red XIII so he wouldn't see her give it the bag of materia along with the note. "Here you go. Bye." She hoped he didn't see the bag as it few off. "You know, Yuffie, I hope one day you will trust us enough to tell us the truth about things." Then he walked back into the inn. And Yuffie felt like dirt for lying to him.

Godo took the bag from Masamune' and saw the note when it didn't leave. When he opened it, he was expecting to hear bad news or not to expect more materia for a while, because she needed to lay low. Instead of that, he got a completely different letter.

_Dear father_

_I have good news for you. I've joined up with a party of adventurers. They are loaded with materia. But that isn't the good new because neither of us is going to take them from them. These are my friends and I won't do that to them. But we have been fighting a lot of people I will take them from, Shinra employees for the most part. I am currently at Costa del Sol and will be making my way south. So if you need to contact me, send a message to that area._

_The number of materia I've collected is a little scant and I apologize. But from now on I will send you all the materia that I've collected on your behalf once a week, every week. There will be different amounts each week, but you already know that._

_I know this part will go unanswered, it always is, but I miss you and will continue wishing you're good health. And that you will remember that I'm your daughter, not just the daughter of my mother, your wife. And I wish I could come home soon. No matter what happens, you're my father and I love you._

_Your Daughter,_

_Yuffie Kisaragi_

He read the message twice, making sure there was no hidden message and thought about what she had said. Then he looked into the bag and she was right, there was only four materia inside of it. "Oh well, as long as she gets me materia, I don't care how much she sends." He didn't say anything about the last part of the message and wouldn't either. She was his daughter and will continue doing what he says until she finds person she finds suitable of marrying.

He put the bag of materia inside a safe behind a bookshelf. For a moment, he wondered if he did only send her out of Wutai because she reminded him of her mother but quickly shoved that thought aside. But then why had he bought that house on the other side of town? It doesn't matter, she's gone, that's all there is to worry about. And at this rate, by the time she is Lady of Wutai; there will be enough materia to outfit the warriors with enough materia to kick Shinra out of Wutai. And she will be the Lady just as soon as she marries.

Author's notes

Chapter three COMPLETE (holds out hands in V's)! Hey, did Lord Godo have the right amount of the cold heart that I was trying for? To be cold but still seem to be able to feel compassion for his daughter. On to the disclaimers: I do not own Final Fantasy 7, 8, 9, or any that Square Enix will come out with. Nor do I own any character in them. And this is a Yuffie Vincent romance. But like anything good in life, it takes time to get everything right. And it also takes time to get to the coffin that Vincent is in. I'll hurry it up a little so please don't stop reading.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Yuffie sat down on the bed at the Cosmo Canyon inn, again thinking about all that has transpired sense she met this group. She has been shot, slashed, blown up, and a number of other things during this time. Her least favorite was being sent into the desert prison. But she still would rather be here then on her own again.

She smiled when she remembered that when they got inside of Gold Saucer, Cloud was stuck trying to figure out who to go with, Tifa or Aeris. And she had a feeling that if he didn't decide soon, they would make him regret it. So, out friendship for all three of them, she went over to him. "Come on Cloud," grabbing his arm, "lets go! I want to have some fun!" She did this to prevent him from putting himself in the doghouse and so Tifa and Aeris wouldn't get mad at the other for being the center of Cloud's attention. "Yuffie, I really owe you for this," Cloud whispered as she dragged him to the Chocobo Square. "Okay, but don't think I'll save you every time you get in trouble with those two."

It wasn't long afterwards that they were in the prison, and she was putting a few attempted rapists in their place. "Just why is this happening," she asked before delivering a final kick to the crotch of the man at her feet. "Remind me to never get her mad at me," Yuffie heard this come from Cloud, who was talking to the newest member of their troupe, Cait Sith.

After that, Cloud, Barret, and Red XIII went after the person behind their problems, leaving Tifa, Aeris, Cait Sith, and me inside the house we met in. "Typical of Cloud, leaving us here while he goes off in danger to protect us." Tifa quickly agreed with what Aeris said and the silence returned.

After they came back, Cloud went up and got us out. And when he returned, he had another summons materia. "Oh, let me see!" "This is going to happen with every summon, isn't it?" "Yup." She held it in her palm as she looked to see who was inside. It was an old man with lightning bolts and thunder appearing around him. "Barret, do you still have Ifrit?" "No, I gave it to Red XIII, why?" "Because this one's element matches your temper and mind." She tossed it to him to let him see and when he realized what she meant, glared at her. "His name is Ramuh, the lightning god."

Next they were at Gongaga and here they obtained the summon Titan. That one went to Cait Sith. While we were there, something happened with our resident love triangle concerning a person named 'Zack.' I never heard of him but I have a feeling that his name is very important to what's going on. The one that was most disturbed about it was Cloud. I'm sure no one else noticed it but there was a flicker of recognition in his eyes. But then he shook his head and it was gone.

And now, here I am, lying on a bed in Cosmo Canyon. My friends are going through decisions about whether or not to keep going. I'm not sure about them but I will. All this fun and excitement recently has gotten me too interested in it and I couldn't stop if I wanted to.

_**But with everything that has happened, I don't remember what that voice sounded like. How am I going to know who it is? Hold up, I'm depending too much on this dream, I'll find him on my own.**_

She went outside to the Candle and saw three of their companions missing, Cloud, Red XIII, and Aeris. She went over and sat down by Tifa, "Hey where is Red XIII? I wanted him to show me around." "Bugenhaden took him and the others to show them something important. They'll be back soon." "Oh, okay. And what about you?" "What do you mean?" "How do you feel about Cloud taking Aeris instead of you?"

Tifa stared at her for a minute before answering. "I wish he had taken me instead. What else were you expecting?" "Then why haven't you told him about this, you love him right?" "Shh, keep it down!" "Why, everyone knows it but Cloud." "Sigh, it's not as easy as you think." "Well, we'll see what I do when I'm in love. Good night Tifa, see you tomorrow."

She woke up to Cloud calling out that they were leave in a half an hour. "WHAT? Why didn't anyone wake me up? Oh, I'm never going to be ready in time!" Grabbing a change of clothes, she ran down the hall and into the bathroom, getting in before Barret. "Sorry Marshmallow." "Just hurry up, Brat!"

As they were leaving they heard someone yell "WAIT UP!" They turned around to see Red XIII racing down the cliff side to get to them. When he got in front of them, he said, "I'm coming with you guys. I want to help save the planet."

Inside the Buggy, heading to the next town, Yuffie felt like she was going out of her mind because it was taking so long. Then she noticed they were coming up on a town. I don't remember being to this town before, what's it called?" "Nibelhiem," came from Tifa. And the way she said, it did not bode well with her. "Wait, THAT Nibelhiem?" "Yes, that Nibelhiem."

"This can't be right," Cloud couldn't believe what was in front of him. Nibelhiem looked like it had never seen Sephiroth. "Who is that bozo?" Yuffie pointed to a man in a cloak going inside Tifa's house. She ran after him and went inside the house. She grabbed the cloaked man and turned him around. Inside the hood of the cloak was a face that barely looked human. It was human, but something about it said it wasn't anymore. The only part that she could tell for sure was his eyes, they seem distant, and they had lost their humanity. "Sephiroth… the great Sephiroth…the mansion."

She didn't know it but Cloud was behind her when he had said that and was going to the Shinra Mansion. "Wait Cloud," Tifa said as she stopped him, "I know you want to go after him but we need to investigate here first." He looked like he was going to protest to this but then agreed. Up stairs, Tifa was looking at her piano, wondering if this was the same one. Cloud, who was sitting on the bed, stood up and went over to it. "Do-Ra-Mi, Ti-La, Do-Ra-Mi, So-Fa, Do-Re-Do." When Cloud finished playing that, a gil slipped out of a secret compartment.

"My secret stash, so this is my real piano. But how did you know that tune?" "I played it when I came here five years ago, remember?" "Guys, take a look at these." Yuffie was holding some sheets of paper. "These are to that pervert we met at the beach, the one surrounded by girls, Hojo. It's about this town. 'There have been three people who have passed through here in the last six months but none knew about the incident five years ago'. What is going on?"

After checking the other houses, they headed inside the Shinra Mansion. When they got into the middle of the room, monsters attacked them. It didn't take long to kill them but they were a pain to kill. When they had the chance, they looked around the room. It was huge, with a stairs going to the second floor, three side doors, and two sub rooms by the front door. Inside the left sub room was a piece of paper.

"What's this? '…Prisoner in the basement…key in the safe…Lid of the box with the most oxygen. Behind the Ivory's short of tea and ray. The Creek in the floor on the second floor…' And the last slot is empty. Wait a minute," holds the paper to the light, "Part 4, right 97. It's the safe combination!" "Lid of the box with the most oxygen,' what does that mean?" "It means, Tifa that in the lid of the box in the green house is the first part of the combination. Ivory probably refers to the piano in the ballroom over there. And, if I remember right, there is a creek in the seconds floor floorboard on the right side of the house." "Well, let's see if we can help him out," Tifa offered.

After collecting the four numbers, they went to the safe on the second floor. "Okay, right 36, left 10, right 59, right ninety… damn missed it!" Cloud tried a few more times before Yuffie shoved him aside. "Let me do this, I guess I'm better qualified to do it then anyone here." She spun the dial to the right and stopped it on 36, then to the left, right, and right again, and it was opened in five seconds. "Wow, nicely done Yuffie." As they opened it, a materia fell out and also a monster!

They fought this monster; Loss number was what Sense said it was, for a half an hour. When it looked like they had it on the run, it just changed from being two colors and using two attacks to being one color and attacking physically only. When it finally died, Yuffie fell over from exhaustion. She turned her head and there was the materia. It was a Summon and inside was a warrior riding an eight-legged horse. He was holding a spear and had a sword at his side. And he had his head bent forward, showing that he had been fighting for a long time. "Odin…" As Yuffie said this, the horse stopped moving and he lifted his head and turned to her. He gave her a nod and then the horse started walking again.

"Okay, lets see what we have here," Tifa said since she was up first. Inside were the key they needed and a manual with the words Cosmo Memory. "Now what might this be?" She flipped through it but it made no sense to her. "I think this is for Red XIII. Here we go, let's go on then."

**_This basement is more dark and dreary then any basement has a right to be. _**There were shadows everywhere and a two-headed skeleton was by the wall. "AGHH! BATS! BATS! GET IT OFF OF ME!" By then, the others had joined up with them. "Just what I needed, comic relief," came from Barret.

Yuffie grabbed the bat by a wing, hit it upside the wall, and threw it at Barret. "Marshmallows don't get comic relief, they get eaten!" When she found the door, she took the key and opened it. What was inside was not what she expected. There were five coffins inside, four were opened and filled with skulls. The fifth was closed and looked brand new, though the dust that covered it looked to be building up for about twenty five years. "This is where that person is being kept?"

Vincent blinked; did he just hear a voice? **_Chaos, did you hear that? _Yeah I did, now either we are both going insane or someone is outside. _But how do we get out? This coffin is locked from the outside and it keeps my strength at half, the only way that to be undone is for who ever it is out there to open it. And that is too much to hope for._**

"A tomb, how scary," Barret said as he entered. "Shut up." She looked at the coffin in the middle and saw that it was locked in a couple of places. "Who ever is in there is not getting out, are they?" She didn't know why but she went ever to it and pulled down the locks, releasing who ever was inside.

Click! Click! **_What is going on? I feel like myself again._** Vincent pulled his hand to his shoulders and pushed them out with all his strength, launching the lid off the coffin. He jumped out of coffin and landed on the edge. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" He saw only a few people inside, two men, a member of the Cosmos Canyon clan, a woman and… When he saw Yuffie, his heart skipped a beat. **_Wow, she's beautiful. _**

**_WOW!_** Yuffie couldn't say anything; she could just stare at this person. "My name is Cloud, and we are here looking for Sephiroth." "Sephiroth… Have you heard of a woman named Lucrecia? She was his mother." "I thought Jenova was his mother." "In a matter of speaking, she is. But Lucrecia is his mother. I think you should tell me what you know." "I hardly know where to start. Okay, in the beginning…" "…And that takes us to here." "Hmmm, so Hojo is still alive. Your stories have placed more sins on me. More nightmares shall come to me now, more than I previously had. Good night." He lay back down in the coffin and the lid closed on him. When he went back inside, Yuffie shook her head and opened the lid again. "Why do you still bother me?" Yuffie swallowed before answering, "We didn't get your name." "…Vincent Valentine." With that he closed the lid and refused to let it be opened again.

"Lets go, we still need to find Sephiroth." Cloud turned to leave and the others followed him. Only Yuffie stayed in the room. **_Who is he? What is he like? And what was all that talk about sins and nightmares?_** With one last look at the coffin, she turned and left.

**What were you so mad about? You acted like they did something wrong. And since we are on the subject of wrong, WHY DIDN'T YOU LEAVE? _Because I don't deserve to leave this coffin. You heard what they said. Sephiroth has turn into a mad man because I failed Lucrecia. _Then why don't you get the person responsible for all of this? _Hojo._ Right, he betrayed you, turned you into a monster, your own words, and left you in this coffin. Worse, he betrayed Lucrecia and Sephiroth, his wife and son. If you will not leave here as the man you were, then leave here as Hojo's angel of death.**

Vincent thought about this for a moment before answering. **_For once, Chaos, we agree. I will go with them. _Why did you give up on that dream, anyway? _Dreams don't always come true. And they often turn into nightmares. Besides, whom could I protect? _How about that girl, the one that held your attention the longest. Maybe she needs your help. _I'm going already, you can be quiet._**

Chaos chuckled, but remained silent. Truth be told, he found that to kill Hojo would only be an added bonus. To him, finding this person that needed Vincent was the real reason to leave the coffin. Vincent may not have figured out what Terra had meant in the message to him, but he did. She was hoping that she would fall in love with Vincent and Vincent with her. He didn't know why but with how he is right now, it would do him good.

Vincent threw the lid off and jumped out. As he did, he heard the voice of Cloud talking with someone he didn't know. "Head north, if you want to get to Reunion." Then something was thrown down the library hall and hit Cloud in the chest. And the person who threw it flew out of the basement and the mansion. As Cloud and his friend went after this person, he came out of the room with the coffins in them. "Cloud!" They stopped just short of the stairs and turned to look back at him. "Will you meet Hojo along your journey?" "We will be fighting Shinra so we probably will." "Okay, I'm going with you." "YOU ARE?" It was the girl again, and as soon as she said it, she clapped her hands over her mouth as everyone looked at her. "Yes, I have a score to settle with Hojo."

As they headed up the stairs, the girl slowed her pace until she was walking next to him. "Um, my name is Yuffie, Yuffie Kisaragi. It's a pleasure to meet you." He didn't even look down at her, "the pleasure is all mine Miss. Kisaragi. Hmm, that name sounds familiar." Yuffie couldn't help but intake her breath at this; she didn't want anyone to know who she was. She has had enough trouble because of her father and the war; she didn't want him to hate her too.

"Oh yes, it's Wutain, right? How has it been there?" "Don't you know?" "Know what?" "About the war, about how Shinra crippled it once it gained occupation there. It's only a tourist town now." "I'm sorry, I didn't know. I haven't been in there for a long time." "The war ended over five years ago." "Well, let me put it this way, I was put in there after Sephiroth was born. Heck, I was there when he was born." "But that was twenty five…" "Twenty five years ago, I know. Hojo, the man I'm after, shot me and…" He lifted his left arm out from behind his cape, "And took my left arm, just above the elbow. I don't want to burden you with what else he did."

**She seems too innocent to find out about us just yet, doesn't she? Not to mention too nice.** **_I hope she never will find out._**

She remained silent, just staring at his hand. At first, she found it unnerving. But after a minute to get used to it, she found it nice. She wished it hadn't happened to him but since that it had, she had to live with it. "Well, even if you're not in mint condition, Vinnie, I think you should let the old ties be and continue the life you have now."

Vincent arched an eyebrow and slightly turned to her. "Vinnie?" In the back of his mind, he heard four demons snickering before one actually started howling with laughter. "Oh, I'm sorry! I make nicknames for everyone, just about. I'll just stick to Vincent if you want me to." "Do as you will." Yuffie smiled at this, "okay Vinnie!" _Remember, Vinnie, girls like this are naïve. _**Galian Beast, be quiet and leave Vinnie alone. And besides, this one is mature; she's hiding it for some reason. _SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!_** **But you don't seem to mind when she calls you it.**

"But like I said, everyone has a nickname. Cloud is Spike. Tifa, the one in the mini skirt with the brown hair is Tif. Red XIII is Red. Cait Sith doesn't have one and I don't think I can create one for him. You'll know who he is when you see him. And then there is Aeris. Just plain Aeris, well, as plain as an Ancient is. And finally, is Barret, the Marshmallow. He's the one with the gun arm. I'll tell you about that name later."

She spent the next few moments just looking at him before saying something. "You know, you remind me of Odin. Here, take a look." She gave him the crimson orb and when he looked inside, he had to agree. He looked nothing like Odin except with the way they held themselves. When he tried to hand it back she declined. "No I think it matches you better then me. And besides, you need materia; you're bare on your armor and weapon."

At the top of the stairs, they split into three groups, Cloud with Aeris and Tifa, Barret with Red XIII and Cait Sith, leaving Yuffie with Vincent. For a moment she wondered why the split up at all but then she remembered that a small group of people is less noticeable then a larger one. Especially when Shinra was doing the looking. Before the others left, she grabbed some materia for Vincent and herself. She covered the basics first with a Restore level 2, Lightning level 2, Fire and Ice. They kept the ones they had on them, Odin, Throw and Steal, and they took an all for the Restore. "Well, we're all set. Do you want to stay here for a little bit to get more powerful?" "That would be a good idea. I haven't practiced in twenty five-two years so my skills might need to be polished a little. And I would rather do it here instead of mount Nibelhiem.

At the first fight, Vincent thought he would give his Summon a try. When he called Odin forth, his since of sight seemed to expand; he was able to see what was going on all around him. Behind him, Odin appeared, bearing a sword that would cut a hair if it fell on it. He was riding the eight-legged horse, Sleiphnir. He came charging at the monsters and in a swing of his sword, cut them in two.

When they reappeared, Yuffie had her mouth open. "WOW! I had heard that Odin was powerful but I never dreamed he was that powerful!" **_Yuffie doesn't know just how right she is in comparing Odin to me. We both kill with no hesitation. _**"The only problem is that we are supposed to be training your skills, not Odin's. The next batch has to be killed by your skill, not his, okay?" "Sure." "By the way, what is your weapon, I never saw you draw it." "I use a gun; I was a sharpshooter for the Turks before the coffin."

After about an hour of fighting, Yuffie just asked this out of the blue. "Vinnie, how old are you?" He barely glanced at her as he finished the last monster of this group. "I was twenty seven when I was put in stasis inside that coffin." He turned to look at her. "Why?" "Oh, just wondering."

**_Well, Chaos, so much about your theory about this girl needing protection. She can very easily hold her own against any enemy she will come across. _So it appears but not all enemies are as easy as the ones in here. And some are not fought on the battle field. Remember, you were told that once in a lecture by your teacher.**

His teacher was a man from Wutai who was going around the world, trying to master all the weapons he could find. But he had taught him more then just that. He had taught how to speak, read, and write in Wutian. But most importantly, he had taught him to listen to his heart. The first thing his heart had ever told him was to watch his friends back when they could not. And he listened to everything it said, right up until Lucrecia died and was resurrected. The same way that Vincent was put in stasis, with the cells of Jenova.

They were on opposite ends of the ballroom when the fight was over and they started over for each other. A chain dropped down behind Yuffie and a person with a half moon blade for legs started swinging for her, blade first. "Look out!" Vincent just reacted, never really realizing what he was doing. He jumped to intercept this thing before it hit Yuffie and while in the air, he changed into Galian Beast. He landed on the things chest, digging his claws in and biting his neck. They both fell to the ground, where it tried to get Vincent off of him and fight back. But it couldn't get him off. It died before too long. Galian Beast stood up and turned to look at Yuffie, who had her hands over her mouth in a silent scream.

"_Miss. Kisaragi, I'm sorry you had to find out about us this way. This is what Vincent meant when he said 'I don't wish to burden you with what else he did'. Please don't hold this against him. He is a good person and he needs friends more then he will ever let on. Hojo shot him, like he said and injected Jenova cells into him. But it wasn't him that joined us, but he doesn't know that yet. We won't hurt you or your friends so you don't have to worry about us. I'm sorry I have to go. My energy is about spent."_

Galian beast disappeared back into Vincent and he fell to the floor, exhausted. "I think that is enough for now. We should try to rejoin the others." She went over to him and helped him up, not saying anything about what had just happened. As they headed outside, she realized that he hadn't told her all of the reasons he had for wanting Hojo dead. She knew that he deserved to die for doing this to Vincent. But that was not the reason Vincent wanted him dead.

They found the others at the foot of mount Nibelhiem, resting before going up. As a rule, they stayed in different camps; they would stay that way until they could all regroup again. They set camp in between the others, about five hundred feet from each.

They had been there for about an hour without saying anything before the Yuffie broke the silence. "Thank you for what you did. And, um, can you thank Galian Beast for me." "Okay," his eyes went distant for a second; she guessed he was talking to him. "He says your welcome." "Can you tell me about what happened? I want to know everything that happened to you."

Vincent was surprised at this; he had thought no one would want to know. "Well, twenty five years ago I got a call from the head of Turks, giving me a new assignment. I was to meet with a person I would be working with for the next few years the next day. When I got there, the person I met was a woman named Lucrecia. We went to a restaurant to get to know each other. I think I fell I love with her right then."

"She also told me about my assignment in full detail. She and another scientist would be working on a project inside the Shinra mansion. But they didn't want a score of soldiers around so they asked for a Turk for protection. It was only after I went there that I met this second scientist, Hojo. Over time, I thought that Lucrecia loved me but then I found that she loved Hojo. I really didn't care about that; I just wanted to protect her. Then one day she told me she was pregnant with Sephiroth. She was so happy about it that I was happy for her. But then some problems started happening with her. Nothing to bad but enough to get me to worry…"

"She died after labor. I tried my best to save her but I had no knowledge in medics so she just about died in my arms. I was under orders to follow Hojo's orders to the letter and he ordered me not to call for help. I shouldn't have listened to them but I did. That was my first sin. After I gave her son to her, I went down to the basement to Hojo. I told him that if help weren't called soon Lucrecia would die. When he refused, I told him that I was going to call for help anyway. My orders were first and fore most to protect them. As I headed for the door, Hojo shot me. I'm not sure if it was with a sedative or a bullet but it put me down anyway."

"I woke up for a moment some time later. There was Hojo, looking down at me. 'You're to late Turk. She is dead…and she will live again. That trouble she has been having is because I injected her with this.' He held up a needle with a red liquid in it. 'This is mako with a mixture of cells from a creature called Jenova. An immortal and a being with unlimited power.' You saw some of this when I closed the coffin lid without touching it. 'Anyone injected with this gets strange powers… or at least that is if they survive. The dose I gave her wasn't enough to affect her in any big manner but it was for her child. He will be a clone of Jenova! No, not a clone, he will _control_ Jenova!' Whether or not he spoke more, I don't. I returned to unconsciousness after that. Or maybe I died. All I know was he injected me with that mixture he showed me."

"When I awoke afterward, the restraints were gone, along with my hand. In its place, I had this. I think this was for going against him. But whatever the reason, he did a good job with it. I can feel everything that touches it. I can move it as well as my hand. It's like nothing changed except the look. When I got up, my head started pounding. And then I heard the roar of Galian Beast inside my head. I think I transformed right then. I just know that my suit was gone and I had this on. Hojo came to get me after that and locked me inside that coffin, telling me that he had given another dose to Lucrecia and her son, finishing the test. Letting him do that to Sephiroth and Lucrecia was my next sin"

"You know, I have heard that Sephiroth has powers like flying and telekinesis. Maybe your power is telekinesis and creating clothes around you for after you change." "Well, as far as the telekinesis is concerned, my ability with it only went as far as getting the lid off and jumping. But the second one seems right. Maybe these cloths are a visual representation of how I saw myself. But it doesn't matter."

"What about you? You're from Wutai and something is there that makes it so you wish I didn't know that. Tell me about you."

"About me, well before I joined up with Cloud and the others, I was a materia hunter. I was trying to get enough to thrown Shinra's hold over Wutai off. That was it pretty much. My mother taught me all the skills I have now. That is, before she died. I'm not sure what she died from, only my father knows and he hates speaking of anything concerning my mother. After that he gave up on fighting, and he was the only one who could go against Sephiroth on equal ground. Without him, we quickly lost the war. We had few materia then but Shinra had more than enough to do the job. With materia and the use of its magic, our warrior's were now out gunned as well as out numbered. We didn't hold a month without my father. What few materia we had was taken away and we had lost our spirit."

"I left when I was thirteen. My father hurt when ever he saw me and even went so far as to buy a house for me when I was old enough to live on my own with little assistance. He loves me but I don't think he is ready to face the pain of my mother's death just yet. And I've been told by others that I look just like my mother when she was my age." She grew silent as it was hurting her too much to continue. "You go to sleep Vincent; I'll take the first watch."

That night, the eagle that lives in the area flew down to her, carrying a note. When Yuffie took it, the bird flew off. The note was from her father, and she had a feeling that this was not good.

Yuffie Kisaragi 

**_This is an order for your future plans. The companions that you are traveling with try to get them to come to Wutai. If you can get them to the island, take their materia. Return to Wutai and loose them before you get here. If you cannot, lose them here and give me the materia._**

_**Lord Godo of Wutai**_

Yuffie's heart sanked as she read this message, she had thought that the materia she had been sending to him had been enough to keep him satisfied. But the powerful materia that right next to his daughter was too much for him to stand. With the order given, he had only to wait to get the materia that might be enough to finally give him an edge over Shinra.

**_I'll try, _**she decided**_, to convince Cloud only once. And I won't try to hard. _**She put the letter into the fire before waking Vincent for his turn. As she laid down she thought about how could her father expect her to do what he wanted. _**He expects it because he is the lord of Wutai.** _

Author's notes

Chapter four done, and on to the disclaimers. I do not own Final Fantasy 7 nor do I own the characters from the game. Well, nothing to say this time. Have a good one.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Cloud, CLOUD, ARE YOU SURE YOU CAN FLY THIS THING?" Yuffie screamed as the Tiny Bronco started flying over the Rocket Town and headed out. As it flew over Cid, he started running after it and jumped on. Then a bullet caught the tail rutter, causing it to fly out of control. It crashed landed in the ocean.

"Well, this is just $&# great. Without the rutter, it won't fly." "Then can we use it as a boat," Cloud asked. "Do whatever the $& you want. I guess any future I have with Shinra is over. Good thing too, I hated those pricks! Okay, Spike, I guess I'll join you." "You sure? We will be fighting Shinra." "Yeah I'm sure, do I look like a idiot and say things I don't mean?" "I think that question should be left unanswered."

"Any ideas on which way we should go?" Vincent asked.

"Well, maybe we could head west. Why, um, no reason. Just forget I said anything." With the way Yuffie was saying that, Vincent couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with the ninja. "Well, if Sephiroth is heading the other direction, we should do the same. As soon as we are finished with this area." "What do you mean?" "Let's head west."

"Huh?" Yuffie didn't believe her ears. She tried so hard to keep Cloud from deciding to go there and he was anyway. "Spiky, I thought I heard you say you wanted to go west. What did you really say?" "I'm going west. Yuffie, is something wrong? You look like your going to be sick."

After that, Cloud changed the party again. This time, taking Vincent and Barret. When asked why he took those two, Cloud just said, 'Been surrounded by too much estergin lately.' He almost got hit upside the head by a fist, staff, and giant shuriken. He would have too, if they hadn't gotten tangled up in each other. "I think retreating is the better part of valor right now." Cloud headed inland after that. And a few minutes later, Yuffie slipped away from the ship and followed.

"Hey guys, wait!" She got ahead of them and placed herself in front of them. "You shouldn't go up ahead. I know the area, it's really tough." Just then, two soldiers came at them from both sides. "Are these the ones we're looking for?" "No but let's take them in anyway." "Yuffie, did you have something to do with this," Cloud called out. "No, I had nothing to do with this one." "This one," Barret said, "just what are you talking about." "Um, um, RUN AWAY!" With that, she split and headed north.

"Hey, where's my materia," asked a puzzled Barret. "For that matter, where is Yuffie," asked Cloud. A call came over the PHS, and Cloud answered it. "Hey Cloud, it's me Tifa. All of our materia is gone, what about yours?" "Same here, is Yuffie there?" "No, I thought she went after you." "Got to go Tifa, I'll tell you what happens later." "Looks like the brat has our materia." "Looks like it." "Then lets go get them back!" Barret and Cloud started down the path, leaving Vincent behind. "Yuffie, why?"

**We can't find out why until we find her and ask. Truth be told, I want to find out why she betrayed us more then you do. _Now, why is that?_ Because I like the girl. After twenty-five years spent in a coffin without doing anything, it is good to see someone with the energy to make up that lost time and still have energy to spare for the rest of the day. But more then that, she took the knowledge of us rather well. I was afraid she would distance herself from you. But that hasn't seemed to happen. Of course, she is still tiring to watch. **

Vincent chuckled inwardly at this. He was wondering what the feelings these four had for Yuffie. And whatever Chaos said, applied to all of them, it seems. He ran after the two, not wanting to be left behind. "What will we do with her when we find her?" "I don't know. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," the way Cloud said this did not bode well with him.

"Wutai, I never got here in the war. I always wondered what it looked like." Cloud said this admiring what the city looked like. "Why did they go to war with Shinra, anyway," Barret asked. "They didn't, Shinra started the war. The refused to use mako and still do. This land is rich with mako and Shinra was going to build a reactor here. But no one was going to use it so they didn't. Wasn't cost efficient to do it," Cloud explained. "No, it went against their honor and tradition." Corrected Vincent.

"Excuse me miss." Cloud said this to a passing woman but she ignored him. "Pardon me, sir, someone!" He tried but no one would listen.

"Anone haimisu, kakawaru mieru aimai aikan chinamini furuneemu anna Yuffie Kisaragi," Vincent asked a woman walking by. "Anta gozonji hime Kisaragi," she asked. "Hime? Ee, jibun gozonji gojishin," Vincent answered. "Gojishin chichigo attohoomu goshi gaiku." "Arigatai."

Vincent started walking to the south of Wutai. "What was that about," Barret asked. "I asked her for directions." "Well, what did she and you say?" "Excuse me miss, have you seen a woman by the name of Yuffie Kisaragi? _You know Miss Kisaragi?_ Yes, I know her. _Her father lives across town._ Thank you." She actually said 'you know Lady Kisaragi?' Vincent thought it would be better to leave out the Lady Kisaragi part for now so he said Miss instead. "Okay," Cloud said, "please tell us from now on as you say it."

At the other side of town, they saw only three buildings: The temple, the pondoga tower, and the mansion. "Where could her father live at, there is nothing here that someone could live in." Cloud said this and Barret quickly agreed. But Vincent realized what was up. He started up the stairs to the mansion. He opened the door and walked in. "Hey, vamp, what are you doing? Why did you go in there," Barret asked. "Think about it."

"Wait, you can't mean that her father lives here." "Do you see any other place someone can live? And earlier, the woman I was talking to called her Lady Kisaragi. I thought I made a mistake but it makes sense now. Her father is Lord Godo Kisaragi of Wutai." The looks on their faces were priceless to Vincent but he put the thought aside for now. He went inside and found Godo. "(Excuse me Lord Godo, I need to talk to you about your daughter, Yuffie Kisaragi.)" "(About what?)" "(Two things actually. The first being why you sent her away like you did.)" "(As her father, I have the right to do that.)" "(The second being, why did you have her steal our materia?)" "(You must be one of her friends. Tell me, what is your name?)" "(My name is Vincent Valentine. I am a student of master Genki Yoko.)"

The look of superiority disappeared from Godo's face. "(Well, in that case, yes I did have her do that. Why, because I will use those materia to over throw Shinra. And I will not give them back.)" "THAT IS IF YOU EVER GET THEM!" All four of them turned around to see Yuffie standing behind them. "You'll never get them!" She ran out of the mansion.

Cloud, Barret, and Vincent followed her and went inside the house at the entrance to Wutai. She hid inside it and they followed. Cloud moved aside a screen and tried to grab her. But she ducked and ran out. They followed her but lost her at the Turtle's Paradise.

"Inside?" Barret offered. Inside, they didn't find Yuffie but the Turks. "Well, well, look what we have here. A few of the Shin-Ra private goon squad." "Enough Barret." Stated Vincent. "Hello Reno, Rude, long time." "I know that face but you can't possible be him. He's dead twenty-five years now. Died back when I was a child."

"You know him sir?" asked Elena. "No, just a ghost of the past. But it's obvious who he's here with." "Cloud Strife, you and you accomplishes are under arrest!" "Sit down Elena." "Huh?" "It's our day off, remember?" "Great, ruined my beer." Rude muttered.

Outside, once again they were at a lost until the pot shook. Barret went the West Bridge and Vincent went to the north. Cloud hit the pot a few times and Yuffie jumped out. She tried to get past Barret then Vincent. "It's over, give us back our materia." "Okay, this way."

She took them into a house and went down stairs. "You saw Wutai, you know that it didn't take losing the war well. I just thought that if I got materia, things would get better." "Listen Yuffie, I don't care about that, I only care about the materia."

Vincent entered the room, whispering, "Liar, you never wanted the materia, your father did," in Wutain. She didn't answer. She couldn't, not to him. "The left lever, pull it." Vincent and Barret were in the center of the room, Cloud pulled the lever, and a cage dropped. Vincent jumped out of the way and yelled, "Free Barret, I'll get Yuffie!" as he ran after Yuffie.

Outside, he followed her to the Southeast part of town where he lost her. But a muffled voice behind the temple's secret door revealed where she was. "You find her?" asked Cloud. "She's under that," Vincent replied, pointing to the temple. "How do you know, Vamp?" "Barret, continue to call me that and I will for the rest of my unnatural life call you Yuffie's nickname for you. I know because I heard her. But it's been so long sense I've been here that I forgot how to open the secret door."

A dog was at the gong and sniffing around. "No need to worry Vincent, I think I know how." Cloud said as he went up and rung the gong. The door opened and Cloud headed in. "It can't be! You…"

Vincent came in a second after Cloud and saw this fat, ugly man. "Don Cornelio." "The one and the same. After I talked to you, I needed to disappear. And I thought Wutai would be the perfect place. Little did I know I would get two new honeys as a bonus." "Two?" "Let me go you fucking bastard!" Yelled Elena. A muffled yell came from a gagged Yuffie, who was kicking everything she could on her captor and scored a few critical hits in the guy's crotch.

"Let them go Cornelio," Vincent said as dangerously as he could. "And what will you do, Mister…?" "Valentine, a former Turk, and first I can do this." He pulled out his rifle and shot bullet between Cornelio's legs, just under his pair. "The next shot is a little higher." He ran up the stairs with Yuffie and Elena between him. Vincent couldn't risk a shot so he ran after them. They came out in the shine with Cornelio and Shinra Soldiers in front of them. "Get him!" the soldiers said, meaning Cornelio. Who ducked out of the way and let the two groups collide.

When the soldiers were taken care of, Vincent, Cloud, and Barret ran out after Cornelio. Vincent didn't stop to tell Godo what had happen to his daughter. He had lost the right to call himself her father when he put her on the road that led to this. And if he did stop, it would have been to kill him.

Outside, he saw Reno standing at the gate steps, cursing. "Reno, where did he go?" "Why do you want to know?" "He has a comrade of ours who has our materia." "It sounds like your more concerned about the materia, Cloud." "The brat stole them from us." Barret answered. Reno and Rude glanced at Vincent, to see if he felt the same. But he was the very definition of apathy. "Let me give you a hint, he went to the most noticeable spot in Wutai." And left.

"The statues." Vincent said and started running. "Is it me or is he concerned for the kid." "It's just you," Cloud told Barret.

It didn't take long to find Cornelio. He was at the face of the statue with Yuffie and Elena tied to it. "You guys are really a bother, just when I found a new wife. You have no idea how hard it has been for me." "Cornelio, we don't care about your pathetic story." Cloud interrupted. "Personally," Vincent said, "I don't care what you do as much as who you do it to." But in his agitation, he accidentally said, 'how you do it.' "You know, I can't believe you killed Rapps. I raised him from a baby and thought him invincible. Oh well, now I have another, stronger one. Oh Rapps."

This fight didn't take long either. "Wait, wait! Why do you think a guy like me would only have Rapps here with me? 1. Because I'm clueless. 2. Because I'm sure I'll win. Or 3. Because I underestimated you." Cloud cursed and said, "Number 2, you knew you would win." "CORRECT!"

He pressed a button and the two women flipped upside down. "Come any closer and I'll turn these two into a squashed tomato." "I don't think so Cornelio." Reno said, finally showing up. "And what are you going to do?" "Kill you. Rude." Rude showed up behind him and threw a throwing knife at him, knocking the devise out of his hand and Cornelio over the ledge. "Now let me ask you something. Why did we join up with these guys to get to you? 1. Because we had no choice. 2. Because we were sure of victory. Or 3. Because we're out of our minds." "Two, two, number two!" "Wrong." He said, stepping on Cornelio's hands, dropping him. "The correct answer is… Because it's our job." "Cool pose Reno, very cool. Now can someone untie me!" Yuffie called, struggling against her bindings for all she was worth.

That night, after apologizing to her friends and returning their materia, Yuffie was sitting at the top of the Padoa Statue, crying. What she had done to her friends was unforgivable. And she knew that Vincent had no intentions of forgiving her after what he said earlier. When she heard someone coming up the path, she forced herself to stop and to put on a mask of her normal cheerful self. It was Vincent.

He had heard her crying halfway up the slope, thanks to his super hearing. If he didn't have that, he would have never known she was. "Yuffie, may I sit with you?" She motioned to the spot next to her. Sitting down, he looked out at the sunset and found it a lovely sight. "I'm trying to smooth things over with everyone about what happened. Aeris and Tifa have already forgotten the whole incident ever took place. Red XIII knew something was behind the reason you did it so he has also. Cloud will be weary for a while but holds no grudge. Cait Sith, well I don't know about. Cid and Barret will take some time." "And you?" "I was never mad and I know why, as I told you, there is nothing for you to be forgiven for by me."

"But that isn't the reason I came looking for you. Earlier, I said something I didn't mean to. I was preoccupied with how I would get you down without killing you and meant to say, 'I don't care what you do as much as whom you do it to.' If anyone should be asking forgiveness, it should be me." "Vincent, apology accepted." Yuffie replied.

"Alright, I'll leave you to your thoughts again. And Yuffie, don't worry, everything will be alright, I'll make sure of that." He left, not sure why he said that but glad he did, Yuffie seems to be more at ease now.

"Hey Vinnie! Hold up!" He turned back to her and saw her motioning to sit again. When he did, Yuffie said, "This goes no farther than you, understand? I know you already know why I did it but I've never said it so I'm going to…" "Which brings me to here." Yuffie had told him it all, from when her mother had died to the letter to steal the materia, minus the dream that got her into the group in the first place.

"Thank you for telling me. But why me?" "Because I trust you and that demon you keep in your head, Vinnie," She answered. _Hey, Vinnie, Galion beast asked, why don't you just kiss the girl or something? You're going way to slow. **Be quiet demon. **What, I can't call you 'Vinnie'? **Just be quiet. **_**You heard him, leave Vinnie alone. **Chaos, put in, unable to keep himself from this anymore. The four demons chuckled and left him to his conversation, only planning to show up again to laugh when she calls him Vinnie again.

"Well, you trust him more than I do." Vincent said. "Him and the other three in there." "Why is that? I would imagine you know him better than anyone else could." "I do. And that's why I don't trust him." "Ah, well, you never know, Vinnie. You just might come to trust them." Vincent frowned, though he didn't know if it's from her naivety or from the fact that he did trust them enough to protect his friend.

"So Cloud, where to next?" Yuffie questioned. "The Temple of the Ancients. But before we can get in, we will need to get the Keystone." "And where is that?" "Uh…" "He doesn't know." Yuffie said, dropping her head into her hands. "The weapons guy on the peninsula has it." Cid said. "How do you know?" asked Cloud. "I met him a few times."

"Alright, we are going to the Goldsaucer Peninsula." Cloud said, getting in the pilot box of the Tiny Bronco. But when they got there, it wasn't there. "I sold it to Dio." So now they went to Goldsaucer. But when Cloud got it, they couldn't leave. So they stayed the night in the hotel.

'Wait, what am I doing just lying in bed?' Yuffie thought to herself. 'I'm in Goldsaucer for gawd's sakes!' She jumped up and walked out of her room. And outside she saw Vinnie, exiting his room. Running over, she grabbed him by the hand. "Come on Vinnie, we're going to go have some fun!" He didn't even have time to say anything out of shock before she dragged him down the stairs.

When they dropped through the chute and landed in the entrance, the welcome lady there said, "It's enchantment night, all rides are free." "Are there any special events taking place tonight?" Vincent asked. "Yes, the Battle Square has a couples match, the Chocobo Square is letting anyone ride the chocobos for the race, and there are plays tonight." "Well, Yuffie?" "The race track first!" she said as she took his hand again and went to the chute that led to it.

The line was short right then so they were able to join the next race. "I'm going to win Vinnie!" Caught up in her excitement, Vincent answered, "Maybe in a hundred years." The green light was given and the chocobos started running. Vincent made sure to go through the line of the birds very carefully to find the right ones for them. Yuffie was on one that he knew wouldn't go crazy on her, as he didn't know her skill with one yet. But as a counter balance to the docility, the bird was more hesitant to give it her all and took a little spurring. Vincent was on one that was a well-balanced chocobo, he wanted to run but only would he do it when he was told to. After that, it took allot to slow him down. Their speed was about matched so the deciding factor between the two would be the chocobos traits and the riders themselves.

Vincent got an early lead on Yuffie and slowed down to keep pace with her so he didn't use up the birds stamina. As they reached the halfway point of the track, Yuffie got her chocobo to give it more. She quickly over took Vincent like this. So he had to throw out his restraints on his. When it got to the final stretch, the other racers were way behind the two. Yuffie had gotten hers to let go of any hesitation and was forcing Vincent's to use up the little stamina he had left.

Luckily, Vincent knew a little trick that would recharge his stamina, scratching the bird behind the ears. He didn't know why that working but it did.

Yuffie could hardly believe that Vincent's chocobo was still standing, much less sprinting. But he was. His chocobo was tied with hers and the finish line was coming up. And… it was a tie.

"No fair! You did something Vinnie, I know you did!" Behind his cloak, Vincent made a small smile. She was right and that something was the only reason he stayed in the race with her. "We can always try again or go to the battle square to settle it." She decided on the second, realizing that if she tried again, he would probably win. "Your on."

In the Battle Square, there were two choices. Face each other or work as a team. They decided to settle the winner first. "Just you and me, got it? No Galion Beast or Death Gigus." "Got it. They didn't want a part of this anyway." The fight lasted several minutes, ending when Yuffie released her limit, Landscaper.

"Hey, I got my second limit, Bloodfest. Thanks Vinnie." "No problem. Glad I could help." As the two walked out of the battle arena, Vincent swore he heard a chopper fly by. **Should we go investigate it? _NO! You should finish your date, Vinnie!_ SHUT UP CHOAS!** "Something wrong, Vincent? Your face is all flush." "No, nothing is wrong Yuffie. I was just talking to a demon named Chaos." "Oh, well say hi for me then." She said this, not realizing that she had just encouraged the four to continue taunghting him over her. Even so, Vincent relayed the message. **_Ah, how sweet of you to introduce us._**

"He says it's a pleasure to meet you." Yuffie smiled and said, "Where to next?" Vincent thought about it for a moment before he had an idea. And banishing the four to the farthest reaches of his mind so they couldn't laugh at him for this. "This way." He said, leading her to another square, the gondola.

"Why Vinnie, I never realized you were the romantic type." The blush that covered his face was deeper than his clothes. He walked over to the gondola operator, who readied it, and asked her something. "Hmm. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can do that for you." "Thank you." The two got on and the gondola left.

At the height of the trip, where the view was the best, the gondola, slowed for a moment, then stopped. "This what you asked her?" "Yes. And for that reason." He said, pointing, away from Gold Saucer. "The view of the building is okay, I'm sure. But I'm certain, you'll like this view better." Yuffie looked out the window and saw the ocean. The lights from the amusement park danced upon the waves and were crested by the full moon, with all the stars floating alongside it. And Yuffie found it breath taking. "Wow, you really are the romantic type." He only shrugged.

After a minute, the gondola started up again and returned to the station. "Thank you, miss." "No problem, have a good night."

Back at the hotel, Vincent walked Yuffie to her room. "Good night Yuffie, have sweet dreams." "Yes, and thank you for the night." She was about to go in but stopped. She turned around, placed a materia in his hand, and quickly went in. He held it up to the light and looked at it. It was a Throw materia. And it was mastered! Unsure of anything else to do, he put it in the first materia slot in his rifle and went to his room.

**_ALL RIGHT, VINCENT! WE WILL BE SILCENCED NO MORE!_** **Hello, how are you four doing? _I didn't actually think it would work._ It didn't, I let you back in my mind. _We demand to know what took place. Right now! _You have a better chance of being freed than learning what took place, Chaos.**

In his room, he tried to remember the significance of a person giving you a materia. The way this was shaped and looked said it was born of a mako fountain. Then it just clicked. Materia from a fountain were good luck charms for love for Wutains. And they were supposed to give those to the person they fall in love with. Making sure he shielded these thoughts away from the four in his head, he swallowed the lump in his throat. This said she loved him. Did he love her? He couldn't answer that. Not yet anyway. He knew he was well on his way to loving her, just not there yet.

Disclaimor: I don't own Final Fantasy 7. Please note, that the language above between Vincent and the woman is actually japanese. It took forever to get it transalted in a written langauge I could type.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The next day, the group left and went to the southwestern island of the largest continent. It didn't take long to find the Temple of the Ancients, so they camped outside it for the day and headed in the next fully rested.

"Alright, me, Aeris, and Tifa are heading in, everyone else, guard the entrance. We may need to leave in a hurry."

"Sure, just keep those two alive in there," Barret said.

They went up the stairs and then Aeris came out again and called Vincent. When he got up the stairs, he saw Tseng lying on the ground and heavily wounded. "And I thought I could leave you in charge without getting yourself killed," Vincent said as he cast a regen spell on him. The wound knitted itself back together only a little before it lost power. But it was enough to keep him alive.

"Don't worry Aeris, he'll live. I'll see to it that he does."

"Thank you, Vincent."

As he started to move him, Tseng came back to consciousness. "Why did you save me?"

"Aeris has known you since she was a child and I guess was comported by you in some way. She wanted you alive and I didn't have the heart to tell her no. I doubt anyone besides Sephiroth could."

"Yeah, she has that effect on people… Listen, the temple isn't a map to the Promises Land. It's a weapon meant to bring about the end of the world."

"Shit!" Picking him up, he ran back to the others. Setting him down carefully, he said, "We have a problem. We need to get them out of there as soon as possible!"

"Lead the way," Yuffie said as she grabbed her Shuriken.

"What's wrong?" asked Cait Sith. Vincent told them exactly what Tseng said. Barret and Cid cursed at the same time.

"There is a door in the back of the room at the top of the stairs. That's how I got out," Tseng said by the fire.

"Barret, you and Cid watch him, we don't need monsters eating him after having saved him."

"Yeah, that would be bad," Tseng said with a small laugh, which turned into a cough.

When they got to the door, they opened it but it was forced close by something with claws, fangs, and a foul temper. "We're not getting in that way. And they have the Stone."

"Vincent, take Tseng somewhere where he can recover safely. I'll stay here and wait for them with healing if they need it."

"…Alright, take care." Vincent and Yuffie turned around and ran back down the steps. "Hey, I'm going to take him to a healing lodge I know. I'll be back in a few hours."

"You mean we'll be back in a few hours," Yuffie put in.

Wanting to hurry up and get him there, Vincent didn't argue. Picking Tseng up, he took him to the Tiny Bronco and set sail. The Lodge was on an island and hour and a half away. As Vincent piloted, Yuffie cleaned the wound with salt-water. "This is bad, in the short time that he has been wounded, insects have already laid eggs in it." Yuffie said to Vincent.

"Clean the wound the best you can. If it gets infected, then he'll have more than eggs to worry about."

"What do you mean?"

"He means that if it was to get infected really bad, then maggots will be put in the wound to eat the infection away. And the very thought of that is the most disconcerting thing I have ever known." Tseng told her. When she looked at Vincent for confirmation of this, he nodded. And her face paled.

"I know what you're thinking Yuffie but that really works. By doing that, a limb that would have to be amputated could be saved with barely a scar."

"It's still sickening." At that moment, seasickness got her. She went to the other side of the plane, so as to not get it on Tseng, and threw up.

"So, Vincent, how long do you think I'll be out?"

"Five months at least. Wounds from the Masemune seem to resist magical healing. You'll have to do it the old fashion, through time."

Dropping him off at the lodge, and assured by the doctors that he would make a full recovery, they headed back. A minute or so after landing, they felt an earthquake shake the island. When the got the clearing that the temple was at, there was no temple. Cloud was unconscious and Cait Sith was saying something about being Cait Sith 2.

Authors Notes: This or something like this is what happened to Tseng in the game. Because he was alive and well in the movie Final Fantasy 7: Advent Child. And if all goes well, this will go through the game and movie on to Final Fantasy 7: Dirge of Cerberus. As always, I don't own this Final Fantasy or any other and never will. Or at least with all likeliness, you never can tell what the future holds.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Vincent was sitting on a roof of a house in Gongaga, thinking about what had taken place just an hour ago. As far as he could tell Cait Sith is a machine, the temple was really a very large material called Black Materia, and to keep it from Sephiroth, Cloud had it shrunk to the size of a baseball. But instead of keeping it, Sephiroth forced Cloud to give it to him. And the sweetest woman on earth that he had ever known has gone missing. _This does not bode well._

**You're telling me. I think it is time to go get the Cerberus. **

_**Sure, but I would rather have the Death Penalty. **_

**So would I. I don't really exist in your terms and can't die, and I'm worried. If Sephiroth has a planet killer, I don't want to be here. And neither would Omega.**

**_Things are that bad huh? Wait, who?_**

**I'll tell you some other time. I'm bored, what about you three?**

_Yes. __Yes_.** Yes.**

**The abominations have voiced their opinion. TIME TO FIND YUFFIE!**

_**Whoa, wai.t a minute! Don't I get to make the choice?**_

_No, _answered Galian Beast.

**_And can't it be someone else besides Yuffie?_**

_No. You see Valentine, whenever we're around her, we get in a fight and are able to come out and play, or we get to watch your thing for her develop into love while you stumble about trying not to feel guilty about Lucrecia. We're having a blast!_

_**Quiet, you damn MUTT!** _Vincent said to Galian Beast as he laughed at the joke he didn't really mean: but was really true.

If he was going to see Yuffie or not, he never got the chance; Yuffie went to see him.

"Hey Vinnie, can we talk?"

He jumped down and said, "About what?"

"I need to do something important. Back at Wutai."

"And you don't want to ask the others to take you their," Vincent surmised.

"Yeah, that's right. And being that Sephiroth has the Black Materia, I think it's best to get it over with sooner rather than later."

"I understand. Do you have everything you might need?"

"Yes, I only need to do it."

"Then I'll go tell get someone to drive us. If Cloud wakes up before we're back, he'll likely want to go find Aeris and obviously he'll need the Bronco." He said as he went for the inn. Inside he found Barret and, unsurprisingly, Tifa waiting for Cloud to wake.

"Yuffie and I need to do a few things. They shouldn't take too long but they will require the use of the Tiny Bronco. I think Cid should drive us and return so as to not keep everyone else waiting. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, just call us when you want to be picked up," Tifa said, not looking up from Cloud.

Vincent had Cid stop at the beach near Nibelhiem. "Okay Cid, it should take about an hour, give or take ten minutes. I just need to get a few things from the mansion."

As he got off, so did the other two. "No way am I going to stay on that thing another minute!"

"Good brat, I don't want clean that shit up!" Cid said as a wave washed away the last of the bile off of the wing.

"Are you coming too, Cid?"

"Yeah, might as well use the trip to gather supplies."

Inside town, he went straight to the Shin-Ra Mansion, as did Yuffie, while Cid went to the general store. As he walked through the door, he felt the memories of how the place used to be a place for life, instead of death and decay, begin to surface.

"My possessions will either be in the storage room or in my room, up on the second floor, left side. Be careful." Vincent went upstairs and then down to the basement.

Yuffie went upstairs and to the left, as Vincent said. Inside the bedroom was… She couldn't tell; there was enough dust to cover Leviathan three times over. She went over to the wall and wiped the dust off a picture. It was a picture of two men. It took a moment to figure out that one of them was Vincent. He was younger than he appeared now, with one arm thrown around the neck of an older man, the other raised with the hand in a V. He was smiling and looked a wreck. It was funny actually.

The other man was also smiling and had his arm thrown around Vincent with the other risen to a V. And he looked allot like Vincent, just allot older.

At the bottom of the picture were the words, 'Vincent and Grimoire Valentine.'

Interested now at what the pictures held, she looked at the second of the three in the room. In this one was Vincent with five others, three men, two women, all of them younger and wearing the Turks uniform. Oddly enough, three of them looked familiar. The words at the bottom of this one were, 'Vincent Valentine and friends; New recruits Reno, Rude, Tseng, Elith, and Velve.'

_Ah, that's why. What are they, fourteen, fifteen? _The names were on their owner. Tseng, very surprisingly, looked nervous. Not from the fear of something hurting him but of not doing a good job and being fired. Rude looked, well, not as stoic as he does now. And Reno… looked like Reno. He had the same devil may care attitude and grin that yelled that he just did something that he shouldn't have. And he was wearing head phones! As for the women she didn't know, they seemed to look at Vincent with a mix of admiration and a slight bit of lust if she had to guess.

Smiling, Yuffie looked at the third picture and slowly the smile faded a little. This Vincent was the nervous one. He was standing all stiff and couldn't be more nervous even with a gun pointed to his head. The cause of that was the woman next to him. She was slightly looking at him and smiling at how nervous he was. To say she was beautiful would be the biggest understatement of her life. She knew before looking at the name at the bottom of the page that this was Lucrecia. She was right, 'Lucrecia Crescent and Vincent Valentine.'

She didn't know what to say or think. She was certain that she still held a large part of Vincent's heart. But she never had a face to go with that thought and… she thought her a fool for choosing Hojo over Vincent. Maybe towards the end of her life she thought the same.

But she had made Vincent happy and Yuffie thanked Lucrecia for that. Then damned her for what happed to him because of her. For that, Yuffie wouldn't forgive easily.

Putting the pictures in her bag, she started looking around the room for…_What am I supposed to be looking for?_

In the storage room, Vincent was sorting through the boxes looking for anything that might be his. But all he found were books and documents on failed experiments. He was about to leave when he found half a journal with a drawing of Vincent's left arm on a box by the door.

"…ent's left arm has decomposed beyond repair. I'll have to replace it if he's to live. God help me, how…" The rest of the page has been torn away. "…the cybernetic arm didn't work, will have to try the last theory I have.

"Chaos is uncontrollable, and can hardly be contained. But he has revived Vincent. Through some force, it has been able to take my nonworking fake arm and make it work. Most likely by through some means I could never understand. Even now, he tries to smash the container with it…

"God, I have condemned him to an eternity of torture." The rest of the journal was missing.

Vincent's claw was clenched into a fist. "Damn you Hojo! It wasn't enough, was it? You even left this here for me to find, you bastard!" Vincent left before he started trashing everything in sight. If he had only looked across the room, he would have found another journal piece.

"…Vincent, even as I lay here dieing, I can only think of how I failed you. If it wasn't for the Protomateria the planet gave me and I you, you and Chaos would be in a blood lust forever. More over, you died while trying to help me.

"I wasn't worth saving after all that I had done but you still tried. I can only apologize and ask you to forgive me. And when it comes time, my son too. I already know that the Jenova cells will destroy who he is and turn him into a monster.

"I've failed you, my son, I really am worthless. But if you're reading this then I succeeded in saving your life, the life of a man I truly love. So even if I'm damned for eternity, I will accept it with grace. Live well Vincent, live well and love someone as much as I loved you before I died. Lucrecia."

Author's notes: SPOILER ALERT! That's right ladies and gentlemen; Chaos, Galian Beast and the others were put there by Vincent's own Lucrecia. GOD the writers for this are great! I've been a fan of the game ever sense it came out and I never once put it together that Lucrecia had Chaos because she put him there! I bought Dirge of Cerberus the day it came out and played it until I beat it and my jaw hit the floor when that was said! Ahem, I don't own Final Fantasy 7 or any of its characters.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Yuffie looked through the drawers of the dressers for anything that seemed important. The top drawer had had neatly folded shirts. The one below it had pants. And the next had… socks and boxers.

As Yuffie blushed, she said, "I guess that answers that question."

"What question?" came from behind her.

She slammed the drawer shut. "Nothing!"

She opened the next the drawer and found a tempered glass weapon case holding a three barreled handgun and ammo.

"There it is." Vincent said, kneeling next to her. He pressed on the keypad the numbers 1, 9, 8, 8, 1, 6. The lid opened and Vincent grabbed the Cerberus and ammo.

"That's all I need, let's go get Cid."

"But don't you want anything else in here?"

"No. When all this is done maybe, but for now, I don't want to remember"

"Well, truth be told, I would like to see you in one of these suits."

Outside, they found Cid saying a string of curses on the prices of items here. "Ready, old man?"

"Don't call me old, brat! Yeah, I'm ready. Where do we go to next?"

"Wutai," answered Yuffie.

"Then let's go!"

"Like Tifa said, just call when you're ready to be picked up," Cid said before driving off.

"So, I take it you'll be climbing the Pagoda Tower," Vincent stated.

"Yeah, I want to prove to my old man that I'm not just something that he can push aside. At the top of the tower, he'll be waiting at the top for who ever challenges the tower. Not only will I beat him, I'll make him face up to what he has done, to me and what he made me do to others."

The two started walking to Wutia. "Then you know that I can't help you."

"Yes."

"Then why do you need me? These monsters are nowhere strong enough to kill you."

"I know, I need you with me so I'm strong enough to do it. I haven't been able to face my father for years. As long as I haven't been able to look myself in the mirror until I met Cloud and the others.

"Humph, I have a lot to live up to myself."

"All in good time, Yuffie. All in good time."

"HOW DO YOU STAY SO CALM! It's infuriating! I feel like I'm about to jump out of my skin!"

"Simple, I know that no matter what a person does, or is done to them, the end result is still the same. We will die no matter what and rejoin the life stream. So does it make sense to get mad over something that will pass soon enough? This event will be over soon and, whether you win or not, you will have shown your father that you are no longer his puppet. All that really matters in the end is that you lived, not simply existed."

"…You're right. This is no reason to get worried."

After that, Yuffie started walking lighter steps, as if the weight of the world had been taken off her shoulders and put back on Atlas's. When they got to Wutai, it was near nightfall so they decided to rest for the night. Inside Yuffie's house, they set down there bags and dropped on the couch. Along with the long walk came a long list of monsters. And these two needed to rest for a moment.

"Yuffie, why don't you get a shower first, I can wait."

"Sure, just as soon as I can feel my feet."

Vincent was up and moving before Yuffie was. While she went and got in the shower, Vincent looked for something to cook in the kitchen. After throwing away several empty take out boxes, some as old as two years, and making the room sanitary again, he realized that any food that was in the fridge would be bad by now. Grabbing the garbage can, he opened the refrigerator door and found it empty, along with the freezer. The only thing this was every used for was ice.

Going to the hall that led to the room and bathroom, Vincent said, "Hey, I'm going to get us something to eat. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Great, I'm starving!" Yuffie called from the bathroom.

As he walked out of the house, he started getting berated by the demons again.

_Vincent, if you were any more the gentleman, I would hurl_, said Death Gigus.

_**Now what's your problem?**_

_Only that to take a shower Yuffie would have to, and would still be, naked. And you didn't even try to sneak a peak!_

Before Vincent even had a chance to shut him up, the other three did.

**You dumb ass! Do you really THINK that Vincent should have done that!**

_I should tare your throat out just for thinking that!_

_Just try it mutt!_

For the first time ever, the four monsters in his head had gotten into a fight. He could even feel in them trying to kill each other in the back of his mind. But as they couldn't die in there, all they succeeded in doing was give Vincent a head ache.

After a few minutes, they stopped.

_If you… give up now, I'll… stop…_

**Yeah…right. Like…I would… do that.**

Hell Mask had pushed himself up with his chainsaw. **You're a damn pervert, Death Gigus.**

_Am…not. I'm just giving him a hard time for being so boring._

_Oh, that's okay then. You just should have chosen a different subject though._

Vincent sighed. If he didn't already have a head ache, he would have now. As he went through the store, he grabbed a couple of things; a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs, vegetables, seasonings, and such. After paying for them and returning to Yuffie's, he went in the kitchen, put the eggs in the fridge for breakfast, and started cooking. When he was done, he had stirred fried vegetables with sliced chicken breast and walnuts mixed in.

As he finished setting the table, Yuffie came out of the hall, dressed for dinner instead of combat.

"When you said you were going out to get dinner, I thought you meant take out."

Vincent couldn't say anything; he was caught off guard by her being in a dress instead of her turtle neck and shorts.

When she lifted the chop sticks to her mouth and ate the food, her tongue was in heaven. "This is good. This is damn good," she said with a hint of surprise. Vincent smiled and bowed his head for a moment before he started eating.

When the finished, Vincent put the dishes in the sink and cleaned them. "That settles it," Yuffie said from the table, "from now on, you're my personal cook."

"Am I now?"

"Yes, I would even put up with motion sickness for cooking like this."

"Well, I'm glad you like it."

"So let's see, you can cook, you're a sharp shooter, a philosopher, is there anything else you do that I would like to know about?"

"Yeah, I know how to play this," Vincent said, pulling a violin case out of his bag.

"Now I know you didn't have that this morning."

"I grabbed it while you were going through the drawers."

He sat down on the couch and played a small tune on it. When he finished, he said, "And the piano."

"Okay, Mozart, the bed is mine, couch is you. Good night."

"Good night."

The next morning, Vincent made breakfast, eggs and toast, and went to the Pagoda Tower with Yuffie.

When they entered, she made herself known. "Hey Gorky, I'm going up!"

"Lady Yuffie, I didn't expect to see you today. Or anytime soon for that matter. Did you come to see your father, Lord Godo? You can go up to see him."

"I didn't come to see him, I came to beat him!"

"I see." Gorky turned and rang a gong. "Beat me and you shall be allowed to go to the next floor."

The fight wasn't that long, with Yuffie as the winner. "You have gotten much stronger. I remember when you could barely lift your shuriken, much less throw it, and now look at you. The very image of your mother, in looks and skill. You have proven yourself, you my past."

The next three battles were over as quick as the first, Yuffie always coming out the victor. She only needed a cure two spell when she finished them.

As she stepped onto the fifth floor, Godo's eyes widened. "Yuffie, what are you doing here!"

"I'm here to fight you. I'm tired of stealing Materia for you. I have done it to be a good daughter to you but no more. I won't be your tool any longer."

"Impudent whelp! I'm your father and…"

"NO! My father died when my mother did. All that's there now is a heartless old man."

"Fine. Fight me with all your strength or you will die!"

Vincent wanted so much to help her; it ate at him not to. But this was one fight that she had to face herself.

**See, I told you not all enemies are fought on the battlefield. She needed your help to make this happen.** **_Okay, I'll admit it, you were right. _What was that? Your voice got really low, I couldn't hear you. _I SAID YOU WERE RIGHT! _No need to yell. HAHAHA! _Planet save me from demons._**

When it was over, Godo changed back to a human and fell. Yuffie followed a few moments afterwards. But a winner had been decided, and that was Yuffie.

"Yuffie, as the victor over the Tower of the Five Gods, you are awarded the full title of ninja of Wutai and the scroll with the final technique. As that you have beaten me, and there fore proven your worthiness as the next Lady Kiseragi, ruler of Wutai, I present you with this," Godo held up the Leviathan Materia. Yuffie accepted the scroll and materia and bowed. Godo returned the bow and turned away from her.

Yuffie then bowed to those she had just fought before they left the fifth floor. When the last had left, she turned to Vincent and said, "Let's go Vinnie." She left and never looked back at her father.

On the way back to her house, Yuffie couldn't stop talking. She was both amazed and relieved that she had beaten him and she said so. Vincent just kept congradulating her, glad that she had won.

"You know what this means?" asked Yuffie.

"What?"

"To celebrate, you get to give me a gift!"

"Is that a fact?"

"Sure is and I know exactly what I want."

"Which is?"

She smiled, grabbed his hand, and ran back to her house. She then raced through it, stopping only to take off their shoes, down the hall, and to her room.

**_Wait, she couldn't possibly be thinking…_**

In her room, she pushed him to a piano. It wasn't big necessarily, but it took up more room then the tatami mat, or futon, will when it's rolled out. "Play!"

**You're more of a pervert than we took you for, Vinnie.**

He couldn't help but laugh a little as he sat down. It was covered in dust. But despite that, it was well cared for and perfectly tuned. He opened the music sheet and saw the title "The Moonlight Sonata, Movement One."

Vincent took a few seconds to get his keying right, and then started playing. He didn't rush, this song sounded better when it is given time than when it's rushed. More importantly, Yuffie was on the edge of her chair, listening to the slow pace.

When he finished, she looked like she wished he wasn't. And since this was a time for a little celebration, he didn't stop. Without a moment's hesitation, he went onto movement two, then onto movement three. When he finished, he turned to her.

"I've never heard my mother play those two."

"Understandable, the first speaks of something deep. But the second is far too melancholy and the third is ambiguous and high spirited. Not as many people like them as much as the first. Would you like me to keep playing?"

Yuffie swallowed and nodded, a tear starting at the edge of her eyes at the sound of her mothers piano being played again. Vincent reached up onto the top of the piano and grabbed a sheet book. Opening it to a song that was as deep as the first movement, he started playing Dance of Death. When he did finish, he turned to Yuffie and saw she was shedding silent tears. He got up and sat down next to her, wrapping his arms around.

"That piano was my mother's before she died. She played just about every song in that book and that was one of them. I spent allot of time by this piano and I always could still hear the songs but to actually have them played again…"

Vincent just stayed there. He had no words of wisdom for this. He knew not what to do besides hold her and pray that she never had to cry like this again.

But his prayers didn't reach the planet. Only three days later, she cried harder then Vincent had prayed not to when Sephiroth killed Aeris.

Author's Notes. Sorry for the sad ending. But we all knew it was coming. That scene is the saddest thing I have ever seen. I had never read of those four fighting so I put it in there for a laugh. The same thing with the '**I told you so'** and the '**you pervert'** from Chaos to Vincent. Last and least: I don't any of the characters above or the game 'Final Fantasy 7.'


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

That evening found Yuffie by the lake that Aeris was laid to rest in. She was still crying and was holding the pictures.

"How are you holding up?" asked Vincent as he sat next to her. He knew it was a dumb question as soon as he voiced it.

"Not as well as you, apparently."

"I probably deserved that. Yuffie, while I'm not hurting as much as you over the Aeris's death, I am still hurting. She was my friend as well. My closes, besides you. To say I don't care that she died would be the biggest lie I have ever told. I just…can't express it like you can. And I wish I could."

"…I grabbed these from your room, planning on showing them to her. I'm sure she would have laughed at how you look here in this one," meaning the one with Vincent and Grimoire. "Or in this one," this time meaning the one with Lucrecia. "I was going to tell her what I thought about her, that I hated her for what has happened to you. And I'm sure that she would have told me not to. To thank her for how happy she made you. She would have looked at this one, laugh, and comment on how some people change and others don't."

"That first one is of my father and me. We had just done something irresponsible and reckless. I'd rather not say what it was. And we both were a mess afterwards."

"You know that Aeris would have pried what you did out of you," Yuffie said with a smile.

"Yeah, she would have been merciless in the pursuit of it, too. And I would have told her without too much hesitation."

"So why not me?"

"Why not you? Well you see, the reason is… it's a good reason too. Uhm, well… It's kind of embarrassing."

"Spill it!"

"Well… Alright! I surrender. We took a home made flash and bang bomb to the Shin-Ra headquarters and placed it under the desk of the then Shin-Ra President and blew it up: while he was sitting there. Scared the shit out of him, literally. We thought it was funny as hell. But, unfortunately, someone heard us laughing and set the soldiers on us. When we finally got safely away, we took that picture."

He looked over at her and saw a huge grin on her face. Thinking about it again, one started on his face too. "I can't believe it, stoicism incarnate was a delinquent!"

"Yuffie, I learned that the best way to honor the memory of someone is to speak fondly of them with their friends, to remember them at times you are hurting the most, and to live life to the fullest as they can not."

"Good advice, Vincent, maybe you should consider using it with Lucrecia."

"I would but her case is a bit particular. I'm not sure if she is dead now."

The smile that shrunk at the advice was wiped from Yuffie's face. "What do you mean?"

"Jenova cells can keep beings alive as well as kill them. The question is which is it that they did to her? …It doesn't matter anymore, does it? The woman I knew died that day. Even if she is still alive, all these years must have changed her. Maybe it is time. Yuffie, please don't worry on my account."

"Well, just so long as you see that the people around you are still alive, then I'm happy. And Vincent thanks." She stood up and went to bed.

**Well, I'll be. You are good for something more than a laugh. _Oh, shut up._**

Author's notes: looking back, I think that maybe that I should have had Aeris speak some more than she did. She is a very important person in the game. But then, this is about Yuffie and Vincent.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Cait Sith, if this fails, I'm going to kill you and find Reeve and hang him with your wiring." Vincent said after listening to his plan to rescue Barret and Tifa. "If Scarlet gets either of them in the execution chamber and lock it, that's it, they are done for. We would have to blow the wall open from the outside."

"Exactly, this is why some of us will go with them while the others secure a way to blow it open."

"And what has that kind of power?" asked Yuffie.

When Tifa and Barret were taken by Rufus, Scarlet, and Hojo, all of the others were still there at the crater. And when lifestream started flooding down the path that the three had gone down, they had to get out of there in a hurry. When they got back down the mountain, Cait Sith told them what had happened to their friends. And it had taken them three days to get to the Tiny Bronco, and another day to get to Junon and get ready for a rescue.

Cait Sith raised his cat hand and pointed it to the Airship. "God, I love your thinking, cat!" Cid said as he started for the ship.

"Yuffie, you're with me. We're going to get in position to save them. Vincent and Red XIII, I need you to cause an appropriate distraction when we're ready."

"…You can count on us," replied Red XIII.

The five remaining members of Avalanche ran their separate ways, having very important things to do. "REMEMBER PEOPLE, COME BACK ALIVE!" Cid yelled to them.

The first thing Yuffie and Cait Sith did was ambush a few reporters. After knocking them out and stuffing them in a broom closet, they put on their cloths and headed to the Conference room. Cait Sith got in without trouble, Yuffie didn't. When she tried to get in, a pair of soldiers stopped her. "You're not supposed to be here, you're supposed to be down at the docks to start the broadcasting."

"But…" Yuffie started before being interrupted.

"Isn't that your ID?" Yuffie hastily agreed. "Then go down there to your station."

"Wait, why are you here?" asked the other soldier.

Cait Sith helped her out. "She's here because her cameraman wasn't there. We came to see if he's here. Sorry, he isn't, tried back at the docks, he might be there now."

Yuffie nodded and started back the way she came. She found the cameraman right where they said. "Hey, sorry I'm late, this fat guy tried to get me for a date."

"No problem, hey wait, you're not the regular girl."

"She's sick today, asked me to take her place."

"Okay, doesn't matter to me. I'll hold up the cards that say what you're supposed to say." Then he held up his fingers and started counting down.

"Hello, I'm Yuffie Kiseragi, filling in for Jessica Chapman, here on Channel 6 news. As our viewers may already know, just four days ago, members of Solder captured the fugitives Barret Wallace and Tifa Lockhart, known members of the anti Shin-Ra group Avalanche. Though it is still unconfirmed, it is believed that these two had something to do with the asteroid that is currently falling to the planet."

**_Well, that won't do._** She put a hand to her left ear, where an earpiece radio was. "I'm sorry everyone, a report had just come in. An informant in the Shin-Ra staff had just told me that report is false. That it was former Soldier Sephiroth that has summoned it. And that the two mentioned were found guilty for crimes against Shin-Ra. We now turn to Ellice Cheri for the interview with Shin-Ra executive Scarlet."

The cameraman lowered the camera and asked, "Is that true?"

"Yes. Except that I didn't get told that over the radio. Sephiroth has lost his mind. As it turned out, five years ago, he destroyed the town Nibelhiem. After that, he disappeared until a few months ago when he killed the former President Shin-Ra…"

"Wait, let me record this. If what you're saying is true, it's worth pure gold." He put in a tape and Yuffie told him all she knew about Sephiroth, from the cover up of Nibelhiem to the murder of the soldiers and sailors on the cargo ship.

"Miss, who ever is your informant is, he is good."

"I know. I pay him good to be that good."

A few moments later, the cameraman started gaping out at the ocean. When Yuffie turned around, she saw something very big and very fast making its way to the Junon harbor. "SHIT! Put us on live!

"Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the interruption but Weapon, classified as Sapphire, has just been spotted by my cameraman!" She stepped out of the way and he focused on it. "While it is still a long ways away, it is already very large in my line of sight! We asked that all those that are not in their home, get there now! And that those who are try and get those that are not inside! When this thing hits the harbor, it's going to create one hell of a wave! We also asked that a soldier watching this hit the #$# alarm! We are moving to a safer position!" As the two started running, no easy feet in high heels, the alarms started blaring. When they got to a higher level, the cameraman started filming again.

"Hey Miss. Kiseragi, real subtle with that earlier."

"I was in a hurry!"

Yuffie grabbed her PHS and called Vincent. "Hey, Vinnie…"

"Hello Yuffie, nice broadcast."

"Oh, you saw that? Then you already know, a distraction has already been made, get back to Cid!" After that, she hung up.

A few minutes later, Barret and Cait Sith headed by her. "Excuse me sir, may I ask a few questions?"

"We don't have TIME for a few questions!"

"Hey, no need to yell, it's me, Yuffie."

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm undercover." She went over to the cameraman and said, "I think it's time we cut bait and ran. I'm leaving; I suggest you do the same"

"Alright, it was a pleasure to meet you." He filmed the cannons firing for a few more moments, then left.

"Come on, we have to get to the airship!"

"Cid, when will we be ready to take off?" called Vincent as he entered the cockpit.

"Give me five minutes!"

"You have two, by now that camber is locked!"

The sound of gun fire came from outside. Grabbing a sniper rifle, Vincent headed to the observation deck. Looking down, he saw Barret, Cait Sith, and Yuffie making their way to the newly named Highwind. He was about to offer support fire when Sapphire rose out of the water right next to the airstrip, lower part of it's shell, and shoot a laser out of it's mouth at the Shin-Ra building. It was about to fire again but the Sister Ray fire at it first, at point blank. Sapphire fell away, dead and headless.

Vincent was about to turn back to Yuffie when he saw someone climbing out of the cut in the building. Looking through the scope on the rifle, and setting it to its maximum setting, his jaw almost dropped when he saw that it was Tifa climbing out.

He put his head through the door and called to Cid, "Take off as soon as Barret, Cait Sith, and Yuffie get aboard! Tifa is climbing down the building to the canon!"  
"WHAT!"

Going back to where he was, he looked through the scope again. Tifa was climbing steadily down, but so were four Shin-Ra soldiers. Measuring the wind and distance, he fired; one fell. Taking aim, he fired again. But the Highwind lurched forward right then and threw off his aim. The bullet hit the building right next to this soldier.

At the sound of the bullet hitting steel, he jumped. Losing his grip, he slid down the building, and then fell to the streets.

With the Highwind moving, Vincent couldn't make anymore shots. So all he could do is watch Tifa's progress and tell Cid where to go. Nearly stopped his heart when she fell. When she reached the end of the canon, they had moved to the point that Vincent could no longer see her.

"Cid, we're right under her!"

"Then up we GO!"

The next thing he knew, he was pulling Tifa aboard. "Welcome aboard the Highwind Tifa."

"Hey Tiff, your cheeks are red," Yuffie called from her position by the railing.

"Yeah. Motion sickness?"

"Urk, yeah, that's right. I think I'll stay here for awhile."

As Tifa went below deck, Vincent sat down next to Yuffie. He had to sympathize with her, "Why can't we keep our feet on the ground?"

"My… sentiments exactly."

Author's notes: I couldn't come up with something in between this point and the end of last chapter. So I went here. I think something like this happened or that Cait Sith knew that Sapphire was going to attack Junon. (shrugs) Doesn't matter much really, Tifa is alive and well and that's what matters.

I don't own Final Fantasy 7 or any of its characters.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Where does that bastard think he's going?" Cid said as he watched Ultima Weapon fly away. They had just started getting warmed up and the damned thing flew away.

"Wait, isn't that the direction of Mideel?" asked Red XIII.

"…SHIT!" Cid said as he spun the Highwind around on a Gil and headed there, hoping to get there before it did. "Damn that spiky headed idiot! He better not die before we get there, I still want to see his face when I show him those huge #$#$ Materia!"

As it turned out, when they got there, Ultima weapon was nowhere in sight.

"All that worry over nothing," Yuffie said totally relaxed. She ran up the street and went into the healing lodge.

"Hiya, Tiff, any change?"

"No, he still hasn't come back."

"Maybe a good, swift bap to the head will do it?" Yuffie said, to get her to laugh.

"Yeah…well either way, he's going to get one for doing this to me."

"He would deserve…What's that sound?" She meant this high pitch sound that just started.

"HEY YUFFIE, GET YOUR SCRAWNY ASS OUT HERE!" called Cid.

When Yuffie got to him, he tossed her a new materia. "I got it from the chocobo. You and Vincent are with me! Barret, Red XIII, you two get everyone out of town!"

Yuffie slipped the materia into her Rising Sun shuriken and looked up. Up there, circling was the reason Cid had just given those orders. Ultima Weapon came down on the three in all hell's fury.

After a couple of summons, a few Contains, and a bunch of hits, they were finally able to drive the thing off. "Yeah, you better fly off, you bastard son of a cave lizard!" shouted Cid.

Ultima Weapon turned its head around and shot a blast of energy at Cid. It hit the ground in front of him and launched him back several feet. Yuffie, whom was about to follow up with her own retort decided not to.

"What was that about? I thought he only went after Mako Reactors," she asked instead.

Vincent shrugged. The sound died down for a few moments, and then started back up. "Tifa, time to get out of there!"

He then turned around, grabbed Yuffie and then still disoriented Cid, and ran for the outside of town. Behind him, the ground started shaking, followed by the sound something big cracking.

"Tifa! Cloud! Hurry out of there!" Yuffie yelled to them.

From outside of town, they watched as Tifa pushed Cloud's wheel chair out of Mideel. But before she reached the edge, the ground heaved and fell away, taking them into the Lifestream.

"Tifa!" Yuffie screamed as she ran to help her friends.

Vincent grabbed her as she went by. "Yuffie, don't! There's nothing you can do for them!"

"LET ME GO VINNIE! THEY WOULD TRY TO SAVE US!"

Vincent wrapped his arms around her. "You can't help them like that," he said, as softly as he could. A few moments later, Yuffie started crying. She knew what would happen when you fell into Lifestream and stayed there.

When the shaking finally subsided, they moved down to the edge, and kept scanning the surface for movement.

Yuffie was sitting down, her head on her arms, over her knees, still crying. Every now and then, she muttered, "First Aeris, now Cloud and Tifa…"

Vincent was on the only remaining hill so he could see past the pieces of wood littering the surface. After a few minutes, he saw someone. He couldn't tell who it was but they were floating on their back and were breathing.

While everyone else tried to think of a way to get him, Vincent took off his boots, shirt and cloak. Grabbing a rope, he tossed one end to Barret. He only looked at it for a moment before he understood. "Hell no! #$# NO! You are not going in there!"

"Just pull me in when you feel a jerk," Vincent said before diving in. Careful to keep his mouth shut tight, he breathed out through his nose until he broke surface to keep it out of his body. He really didn't fear getting poisoned by it, he had spent allot of time in it before when Hojo experimented on him. But he was only sure thought touch, not ingestion. When he got to them, he jerked on the rope. As he came to shore, he saw it was just some unlucky guy who didn't get out of town in time.

Barret laid the guy on his side so that if any of the Lifestream got in his lungs, it could come out. At first, he wasn't responsive but now that he left it, he started moving again. Vincent sat down for a moment himself when he got to shore. The Lifestream was rather hard to swim through.

"There's allot of things under the surface. I'm going to look again," he said before getting back in.

It was an agonizing ten minutes before he found something besides tree pieces and boards. His real hand bumped into something that was soft. As he felt what it was, he realized it was Tifa's back. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he headed for the surface. But then he felt more weight then there should be being pulled up. His claw followed her arm and found it locked around Cloud's. Grabbing him to, he swam to the surface again.

After taking a breath, he called, "Pull me in!"

As he gave the two over to the others, Yuffie came up to him. "Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"Good." She raised a hand and slapped him. "YOU IDIOT! What if you had died out there! And what happened to 'you can't help them like that'!"

Vincent, barely able to feel the slap, he was so numb from the Lifestream, said, "You couldn't, _I_ could. I have already been in Lifestream before and was the only one who could do it."

His claw came to his face and wiped the lifestream off it. It was there, out in the open. Whenever the others stopped fretting over the two, their eyes drifted to his arm. More specifically, just below the shoulder where the flesh stopped and the metal started. There was a scar all around the end of flesh from where the metal was joined to the flesh. But Yuffie didn't look at it; she just kept accusing eyes on his.

"First, do something that stupid again, and you will regret it. Second," she hugged him, "thanks for saving them."

The others averted their eyes at this. They all knew that there was going to be another couple in their group. But now was not the time to joke about it… Too bad Cait Sith disagreed with that.

"Lass, he is without shirt on right now."

A blush as deep red as Meteor covered her face and she let go. "Sorry, Vinnie."

Red XIII shook his head. Why didn't humans just come out and say what their feelings were.

When the two woke up, they went back to the Highwind. And the four who saw it were merciless in their small teasing. The best part, in their opinion, was that they knew that the two cared for the other. They just didn't that the other cared for them. In other words, they know, the two know they know. But the two pretended they didn't know while not knowing the other is doing the same. And that's what they know.

"So, what's the next move?" asked Cid.

"…I've heard of some rumors concerning some powerful materia in some caves. I think it would be a good idea to get those. But first we need to get the last of the huge materia."

"…When I was a Turk, I had heard of a large detail of soldiers being posted to guard the reactor at the then Junon City. The reason being that a materia had been left in the reactor longer than normal and had grown too large to fit in any normal slot in a weapon except those made for it. But reactor the head of weapons development put forward an idea to use it for a rather large canon."

"The Sister Ray," Tifa finished.

"The one and only. Power output from the reactor is increased while it is in there. If the canon is working, as it appears to be, it would have to be there or it wouldn't work."

"That's where we're going then," Cloud said with finality.

Vincent looked around, the soldiers, which has included normal soldiers and members from the legendary Soldiers, first class and otherwise, had all been killed. "Where to next, Vincent?" asked Cloud.

"How am I supposed to know? I've only heard of this Huge Materia. I wasn't attached to its detail. But it might help if you look at this," Vincent pointed to a sign that was above and behind him. Soldiers quarters- left; Reactor/ Submarine Dock- Right.

"Well, don't I look the dork?"

"Yeah," said both Tifa and Yuffie and agreements came from Barret, Cait Sith, Cid, and Red XIII.

"There's the materia!" Yuffie said before a crane reached down and grabbed it from the reactor. "There was the materia."

Following it, they came to the docks. "Hello Cloud, Vincent."

"Reno," replied Vincent, "How you been?"

"Same shit, different day. Let me guess, you want the Huge Materia."

"Yup," answered Cloud.

"Ah, well, you know I can't just give it to you. Protocol, protocol," he raised his hand and snapped his fingers. A cargo loader activated and moved behind him.

"Don't want to fight us yourself? You never would have done that when we were younger."

"I was rash then. I'm rash now too. But my win/lose ratio was never good with you and the same goes for them. And the odds don't hold to well for me, now do they?"

At that, Reno stepped aside and let the cargo loader at them.

When the fight was over, the red submarine was gone. "From bad to worst," Barret muttered before following Cloud. It only took thirty seconds before the two had it under their control. Then Cloud poked his head out. "There's only enough room for three. Yuffie, you and…"

"No, double no, HELL NO! Boats, the Highwind, sure, fine. But I cross the line at SUBMARINES!"

"…You might be right. Tifa and…What about you Vincent?"

"I never piloted one."

"Cait Sith, do you know anything about subs?"

"Aye."

"Get in. The rest of you, make your way to the surface."

They got off the sub and it moved out of the dock. As they started back, Yuffie opened the chest at the end. "Holy Leviathan!"

"WHAT!" Vincent said as he spun, drawing the Cerberus.

"Sorry, it's just that I never expected to find this here," she showed him a single scale the size of a dinner plate. "This is a scale of Leviathan. It's a treasure from Wutia and had been lost for a thousand years."

"Well, it's not lost anymore."

"I just want to know how they found it."

Vincent shrugged; he didn't know and wouldn't guess.

On the way back up, Vincent and Yuffie came across a ghost ship. Even with the two of them, it was a tough fight. But in the end, it wasn't deathblow or even Odin, he just threw his lance, it was morph of all things.

"What are we supposed to do with this?" Yuffie asked as she examined the guide book. "Wait, didn't that guy back at Kalm ask for this?"

Vincent stopped looking around for the next thing that was going to try and kill them and said, "Uhm, yes, I believe so. We'll get it to him when we get out of here."

When they got to the elevator, Yuffie asked, "Where did Reno slink off to?" Again, Vincent only shrugged. When they got on, a hand kept the door from closing.

"Mind if I go you with you?"

Vincent looked at Yuffie and said, "If you speak the devils name, you draw his attention."

**Yes, you wanted me? _No, be quiet._ Hey, it's your fault, talking about the devil and all. Ha-ha.**

"Planet save me from the ravings of demons," Vincent muttered. "Get on Reno." As he did, Vincent raised his hand and shook Reno's. "How's Rude been?"

"He's been Rude, no pun intended, how else."

"Did you find Tseng? And who is that girl Elena?"

"Yeah, we got Tseng. He's on medical leave. The first break he's taken since… you disappeared. And that was Elena, a new member, kind of a hothead... This is my floor, take care."

The girl that controlled the elevator watched Reno go and wondered aloud about where the quality men went.

When they got to the Highwind, they received a radio signal. "Testing, testing, this Strife, calling Highwind, please come in."

"Hey Cloud, how'd it go," replied Cid.

"It went good. The submarine has been sunk. But it's going to take a bit before we can get the huge materia. There are more subs around looking for us. I don't think it is a good idea to get it right now. Nor do I think we should just leave it. Hang tight for an hour, by then we should have shaken them. Emerald Weapon is on the sonar; maybe we can lure them in his vicinity."

"Roger that, over and out. So now what do we do? I don't think we should just stay here."

"I have a stop in Kalm I would like to make," Vincent offered.

"Got nothing better to do. Let's go!" Cid said as he lifted the Highwind off the ground.

"Hey old man," Yuffie said as she stepped onto the second floor of the house, "didn't you ask for this?" she said as she showed him the guide book.

"Hmm, yes this is it. Must have been difficult to ascertain." He pursed his lips and whistled. A gold colored Chocobo climbed up the steps. "This is Zen'Nathas. He's been mine for some years now. But I haven't been able to take him out of the stall for a while now. If the world is coming to an end, he should be running when it does, doing as he is meant."

Yuffie went up to Zen'Nathas and petted him. "I've never seen a gold chocobo before. Never even heard of them."

"Of course not. The world has forgotten about them. Humans seem to have that habit, forgetting things they shouldn't. I learned how to breed him from a guy called the Chocobo Sage up north. Anyway, you can train him up for the races if you want. But being as he isn't as young as he used to be, there might be some young bucks that are faster. But he'll get you anywhere you want on the planet, he goes over mountains, oceans, and everything between. Moves faster than any vehicle out there except the fastest airship." He got up out of his chair and went over to the bird. Putting a hand on his neck, he said, "Hey Zen'Nathas, I want you to go with them. I've gotten old and can't take you out now. I'm sure these two can take better care of you."

The chocobo looked at him for a moment, and then he nodded his head and warked. Zen'Nathas then looked at the two and the look he gave them shouted what he wanted. To get out and run.

"Don't worry sir; we'll take good care of him," Vincent said behind him. "And we'll let you know if we find the Earth Harp or Dessert Rose." Vincent went down the stairs, followed by Yuffie leading Zen'Nathas.

But the bird didn't even take two steps before he lost his patience. He had had patience enough for the four years he was in the stall, and in his opinion, he had waited long enough. Lowering his head, he charged down, slipping the two over his back, ran out of the house, and out of town.

In the sprint, Vincent was able to take full measure of the bird. He was large even for a chocobo, able to hold the two comfortably, and his speed suffered for that. But with the size came his real strength, endurance. When sprinting chocobos have run themselves ragged, he would have energy to spare. "Hey Vinnie, do we even have a stall to keep him in while he isn't running?"

"Uh, no we don't."

The chocobo rolled his eyes.

Pulling into the Highwind, they went and grabbed Cloud, Tifa, and Cait Sith. "So, now what?" asked Cid as he lit up another cigarette.

"The last of the huge materia has been loaded into the Rocket. It won't make as big a boom as they wanted, but it's all they have," Cait Sith said.

"WHAT!" Cid yelled, dropping the cigarette.

"We can't let them do it then. We'll go stop it," Cloud said, as he cleaned the blade of his sword and put some materia in the slots.

"I'm going with you. That's my rocket and I won't let them do this," stated Cid.

"Fine, who else is going with?"

"…I'll go with you," Red XIII said from the spot he was lying down in.

"Alright. Cid, when you're ready, take us there."

"…Cloud, a moment please," Vincent said.

"What is it?"

"Yuffie and I have come into possession of an ocean going chocobo. While you are getting the Huge Materia, I would like to go check the 'materia caves' that you spoke of."

"Do it," Cloud said before heading for his room.

"So, where to first, Vinnie?" Yuffie said from behind Vincent.

"First, we need to get some stables. I doubt this will be the last Chocobo we will have. Racing them will bring in some gil. And as far as I can tell, it isn't cheap to be and anti Shin-Ra group."

"Still, after all this fighting, we have quiet a bit."

"A good amount to get this started with."

After renting all the stables they could, they head for the closest Materia Cave, over in the Mideel area. "Okay Zen'Nathas, stop here." Getting off, they go inside and find the rumors true. "WOW!" Yuffie said as she goes over to a materia. "What have we here?" She picked up the blue materia, "Uh, I don't know what we have here."

"Let me see, Yuffie." She tossed him the materia and he examined it. "I have no clue, so let's experiment," he put the blue materia in the slot next to a mastered Ice materia and went outside. The two got in a couple of fights but still the materia didn't reveal its purpose. When they dispatched the latest bunch, Vincent sat down on a rock, dumbfounded. "Okay, I'm stumped."

"Ragh! Why won't it work!" Yuffie about shouted from her position on the ground.

"How am I supposed to know? I'm no sage," Vincent said, equally frustrated.

_You know, Vinnie, it wouldn't be a bad idea to ask the help of those more knowledgeable than yourself. **You know what this does?** _**He doesn't, Vinnie, but I do. _Fine, what does it do? _Just let an opponent hit you next time, killing them before they even hit you will do it very little.**

"Yuffie, one of the demons in my head says to let the next monster hit me. That is when it'll reveal its purpose."

"Okay, one more try, then we go to the next one." Vincent agreed.

When the next fight started, Vincent did as Chaos said. The next thing he knew, Ice 3 was being cast without him even thinking about it. "…Cool," Vincent muttered. To be sure that is what it did, he let them hit him a few times more and the same thing happened.

When the fight was over, Yuffie went over to him. "Okay Vinnie, did it do what I think it did?"

"If you mean that it made the combined materia work on its own, yes it did."

"…I WANT THE REST OF THEM!" Yuffie said before hopping on the back of Zen'Nathas. As Vincent got on, he thought, **_…Thank you Chaos._ No problem, Vinnie.**

The next Materia Cave was over by Wutai. As they got off, they heard an explosion of sorts and saw something shoot up through the sky. Yuffie's jaw dropped, "Shit, tell me that wasn't the rocket?"

Vincent pulled out his PHS and called Tifa. "Tifa, did something go wrong?"

"How did you already know?"

"I can see it lift off from here on the Wutai Island."

"Palm launched it by remote. But don't worry, Cid said there is an escape pod aboard so when they get the materia, they will get in it and jettison the pod."

"Okay, I'll tell Yuffie. By the way, the rumors are true. We just came from the cave near Mideel and we have a materia that counters attacks with magic."

"Okay, when we go pick Cloud, we'll tell him. Happy hunting."

"Yuffie, Cloud and the others are still on but they will get off soon."

"Good."

Inside they found a yellow materia. "This one is mine," Yuffie said as she put it in a slot. She then closed her eyes and went over the command list in her mind. A new one was their, Mime. When she tried to activate it, nothing happened. She frowned, "Not again."

"What does it say?"

"Mime."

"…Try something else first, and then try it."

Yuffie cast a fire spell, and then used Mime. The fire spell happened again. "Neat."

After that, they spent some time going around looking for the next materia. But with no sightings of the caves, they were wondering around with out an end location.

"Vinnie, stop, I think I'm going to be sick." He slowed Zen'Nathas's pace and stopped at a stream. And Yuffie was right, she was sick. After half an hour, they received a call. Vincent grabbed Yuffie's phone and answered it.

"Hello." "Vincent, why didn't Yuffie answer?" Yuffie threw up again. "Never mind. Hey, if you two can, I might have something for you to do," said Cloud. "There's allot of problem around the world right now and everyone is scattered, helping those they can. And I would like you to work with a guy called the Chocobo Sage. He has given us some info on how to create some forgotten breeds of chocobo. So far, we got that to create a green and blue chocobo, we need a good and great chocobo from south east of Gold Saucer and on Mideel island, respectively, and have them mate with a certain nut, and that's it. Think you two can handle this?"

"Sure," came from Yuffie. "Yeah, give us a call when you want a report."

"Well, time to go find this Sage. The first thing we do afterwards is get you a chocobo that will be easier on your stomach."

"Agreed."

Authors Note: "This is boring, Vinnie you do it."

Pulls out the Cerberus and points at author's head. "Only Yuffie can call me that, understand?"

"Yes sir, you the boss, got it."

"For that matter, why are we stuck doing chocobo breeding?"

"Would you two rather have gone up with Cloud and Cid?"

Both Yuffie and Vincent blanch at that. "Never mind, just keep writing as you see fit."

"Thank you, now can you please do the disclaimer?"

"1sniperwolf does not own Final Fantasy 7. He does own a copy of both games and the movie. But that is quiet different."

"Thank you Vinnie."

Points gun again, "What did I say about that?"

"Sorry. People, there has been over a thousand hits on this Fanfic since it was put up." Raises hands in Vs. "But only two reviews at the point of this chapter being written. I don't want to resort to begging so please don't make me."

"Oh, by the way, in the original game, while you are Tifa, if you go to her house and play the piano, you'll get an elemental materia. The guide doesn't tell you that and most people miss it."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Hmm, sorry Zen'Nathas, I'll be taking Sel'tur Z'har today." Vincent said as he saddled up the second gold Chocobo.

It had been a few weeks since they started this and they have gone through the whole process. Now all that is left is to see if Sel'tur Z'har is an easy ride. It took some time but Vincent found that Zen'Nathas meant Gem Agent in the language of the Cetra. So Vincent thought why not keep it going; Sel'tur Z'har means soft ride. And hopefully, that is what she is.

Yuffie was still asleep in the house on the Chocobo Farm. She was having trouble recuperating from the motion sickness Zen'Nathas kept giving her.

"Okay, Sel'tur Z'har, let's see what you can do," Vincent said before kicking his heels and she raced across the plains. She was faster than Zen'Nathas but her endurance wasn't as high. **_It will be interesting when these two race each other._**

But that wasn't what was important. What is important is that this small chocobo didn't rock up and down while she's running. She was almost motionless. "Perfect."

Turning her around, Vincent headed back to the farm, where they've been staying practically every night since Cloud called. It was almost 8:30 and Yuffie will be waking up soon and she'll want him to cook her breakfast.

Putting Sel'tur Z'har back in her stable, he went inside and made her breakfast. And right on time, Yuffie woke up, came into the Kitchen, still wearing her pajamas, and asked, "Hey Vinnie, what's for breakfast."

"I don't have a name for it. I just cook an egg on a piece of bread as its toasted, using butter instead of vegetable oil."

"Fine, just gimme," Yuffie said, sitting down at the table. Vincent handed her a plate with two of them and sat down himself. After taking a bite, she said "Perfect Vinnie, as usual."

He nodded, "Yuffie, once you're done, I have something for you out in the Barn."

She lifted her head, with a piece of egg still on her lips, and goes "Hmm?" It took some restraint not to laugh.

"You'll see."

Yuffie quickly finished, showered, and dressed. She followed Vincent out to the barn, hating that he was taking his time, like always. "Come on, hurry up!"

"It'll still be there when we get to it…Unless someone let it out." That last part he said to himself.

Yuffie entered and walked pass a gold chocobo. "Morning Zen'Nathas." Half a step later, she stopped and turned around. This gold chocobo was too small to be Zen'Nathas. She was smaller than a normal chocobo was. And her eyes were sky blue instead of gem green. "Who is this?"

"Her name Sel'tur Z'har," Vincent said from Zen'Nathas's stall.

"And when did you get the time to breed a gold chocobo without me knowing?"

"Wasn't that hard. So, would you like to ride her?"

"Me? But you bred her."

"For you," Vincent replied. Yuffie smiled and looked at Sel'tur Z'har, noticing she was already saddled. "Sure."

Yuffie was slow to go at first but as she realized that Sel'tur Z'har didn't move as much as Zen'Nathas, she urged her to go faster. "So Yuffie, want to race?" "Sure, where's the end?" "North Corel." "SEE YOU THERE!" Yuffie said, setting Sel'tur Z'har to a sprint.

"…Are we going to let them get away with that?" Zen'Nathas shook its head and started sprinting himself. With Zen'Nathas's longer legs and better endurance, he was able to catch up to the two. "Hey, Vinnie, thanks," Yuffie said with a huge smile.

**Score one for Vinnie. _How many times a day do I have to tell you to shut up? _The record so far is one hundred and twenty three. Does that give you a hint? _Shut up. _So far that is thirty seven, trying for a new record?**

Unfortunately for Vincent and Zen'Nathas, Sel'tur Z'har had enough endurance to keep up the sprint. So while they sprinted all the way there, Yuffie was the winner.

"So, now that we have the chocobos, think that we should get back to hunting for those materia?"

"Yeah, I'll just call Cloud and tell him." Vincent pulled out his PHS. "Hey Cloud, we have a bunch of Chocobos now, so we're going to get back to hunting for those Materia Caves."

"Sorry Vincent, bad time to do that. We're about to get back to what we were doing. Not only that but we could really use your help and Yuffie's. Ultima Weapon is getting to be a real pain in the ass."

"Fine, we're at North Corel, come and pick us up.' Yuffie, we'll have to go hunting later, Cloud needs us back at the Highwind."

She frowned; she was enjoying not spending every day with motion sickness. Fifteen minutes later, the Highwind landed in front of them and they walked the chocobos on. "Hey Vincent, Yuffie, get up here to the Pilot Box," was announced over the intercom.

"Hey, take good care of these two," Yuffie told the crew member.

"Alright Cloud, what is it that you called us back for?" Yuffie asked him when she saw him.

The whole ship lurched to the right. "That's why!"

"IT'S THAT BASTARD, ULTIMA WEAPON!" Cid shouted. "It seems he wants the showdown here and now!"

"Okay people, let's get him."

It took several limit breaks, including All Creation and Cosmos memory, and several Summons, including Bahamat Zero, but he finally went down, literally. He fell and exploded on contact with the ground, destroying one of the cliff faces. Something was left behind. When they landed and went to the center of the crater, they found a sword with a crystal blade. "I believe that is for you, Cloud."

"Hey guys," called Yuffie, "can anyone tell me what that is?" She was pointing to something rising out of the forest up on the bluff.

"…No," answered Vincent.

After that, Cloud let the two get back on the chocobos while him, Tifa and Barret checked out the Ancient forest. While flying, Vincent saw a cave behind a water fall up in the mountains. So that was where they were going to look next.

Pulling Zen'Nathas and Sel'tur Z'har to a stop, Vincent and Yuffie got off and went inside. Only, there was no materia. There was Lifestream, yes, and a crystal in the back. And a woman in front of it. "L-Lucrecia?"

"Vincent? It's good to see you alive." Vincent took a step forward. "STOP! Just don't come any closer. Vincent, five years ago, I heard that Sephiroth was killed. But recently, I've been having nightmares about him. Tell me Vincent, is my son still alive?"

Yuffie was about to answer her but Vincent stopped her. "No, he died, Lucrecia."

A tear slid down her cheek. She was sad that he died before he knew her, but she was glad too. "Vincent, this grotto, this is Chaos's grotto. When he is born, it will be from this grotto that he comes forth.

"Do you think it is too late for me to be forgiven?"

"I wouldn't know Lucrecia. My sins haven't been forgiven either."

"…Chaos, you can help Vincent now. Here, I've also been holding onto this." The Death Penalty appeared in front of Vincent. "I know you're fighting, Vincent, so you'll need this."

Vincent picked up the cross shaped gun and holstered it. "It's heavier than I remembered."

He turned to the cave entrance and left. Yuffie bowed to Lucrecia and followed him. "Vinnie? Vincent! Talk to me!"

"Yuffie, let's go back to the Highwind," he replied as he got on Zen'Nathas.

Authors Notes: First and fore most I don't own Final Fantasy 7. I won't have Vinnie (ducks head and looks around for flying bullets) do it this time; he did try to shoot me. So it's your queue Yuffie!

**_Thank you. First, it actually takes two trips into Lucrecia's grotto to get Chaos and Death Penalty. First is when you get the submarine. The second is, at the earliest, right before you head into Midgar to kill Hojo. And if he got the Chocobos too early, forgive him; he has been busy with work. On a side note, that wasn't actually Lucrecia. She is dead and what was seen is actually a mental projection from the crystal, I don't get it either. On another note, Chaos is born of this cave through the contaminated Lifestream. While Omega, mentioned chapters ago, is born of pure Lifestream. You'll hear more about them later. But this does reveal that the two are tools, or Weapons, of the planet._**

**_Also at this point, it is possible to have Omni Slash, Ultima Weapon for Cloud (very hard to do); Chaos, Death Penalty for Vinnie; Catastrophe for the Marshmallow; Final Heaven, Premium Heart for Tiff; All Creation, Conformer for me; Cosmos Memory for Red; Highwind, and maybe Venus Gospel for Cid, haven't gone there just yet. Cait Sith can have Slots, which is his best Limit. Anything else 1sniperwolf?_**

Yeah, are you still mad at me for asking the D of C you out in my Sephiroth fic?

_**(Uppercuts 1sniperwolf and sends him flying,) YES! Dispite him being a sleeze, please review. And if you want to comment on things that are incorrect or such, drop a line in his e-mail.**_

(lifts head for a foot underground) But what if they fill the box?

**_(Stamps on his head) READ THEM AND TRY TO REPLIE!_**

I think I prefer the bullets. Someone call a docter.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Cloud, I'm worried about Vinnie. It's been three hours since he last said anything. He's acting less the Vinnie we all know and more the Vincent from the coffin!"

"Yuffie, I'm sure it's nothing," Cloud said before getting ready for the next fight. Diamond Weapon had just shown up and is marching for Midgar.

"…Yuffie, what happened after you left?" asked Red XIII.

"We went to this cave. It was filled with crystals and this black lifestream. It also had an occupant," Yuffie led him to her room and showed him the picture of Vincent and Lucrecia. "This woman right here, she was in the cave."

Red XIII looked at the picture, then back at Yuffie. "The thing is she hadn't aged a day. Anyway, they exchanged a few words and Vincent left. He's only said one sentence to me since then."

"…My guess is he has a lot to think about. Don't worry Yuffie; I'm sure it'll be alright."

"I wish I was so sure."

Vincent was on the observation deck, going over everything. The Death Penalty was his best gun but it gave no experience to materia, and he would need all the strong materia he could get when he fought Sephiroth. He holstered it behind the Cerberus, where it would be easy to grab if he needed it. Pulling out the Cerberus, he made sure the barrels were straight and the revolvers all worked properly.

**If a person sends thirty years for the ache in his heart to begin to sooth, and at the end of the thirty years he saw the cause of the ache again, how many years will he spend to sooth it again?**

Vincent pulled back the hammers and gave them a test fire.

**No remark, Vinnie? Let's try this then. None. Lucrecia made her choice. So this shouldn't affect your's.**

Vincent began loading the Cerberus and putting spare ammo in his belt.

**Vinnie, Yuffie is down there worried about you. I'm sure she is afraid to lose you back to that coffin… _Where I belong._** After that, Vincent no longer replied to Chaos or the others.

The Highwind came to land in front of Midgar. The fight was about to begin. He got up and walked downstairs where everyone was gathering. "Hey Vin…nie… are you okay?"

"I'm fine Miss. Kiseragi."

Diamond weapon turned from them. They had just fought it with enough hard hits that would have put down several of Shin-Ra's best Soldiers. And it was turning away as if to say, 'I'm done playing with you, it's time I fight my true opponent.' It only walked a hundred yards, where the objects on its shoulders opened and started firing on Midgar. At the same time, the sound of the canon firing was heard. With its energy spent, Diamond weapon could only stay there and watch while the blast of Mako came at him and punched right through his body.

"…Diamond's energy blasts just slammed into the top of the Shin-Ra Headquarters. President Rufus was up there," Cait Sith said in his new accent. "…That's very strange, the canon is charging up again for another shot."

"Why, the barrier is already down?" stated Cloud.

"I'll give you a live feed. 'Who is at the Sister Ray's controls," said Heidegger's voice. "Really, Heidegger, you shouldn't make demands to your superiors.' 'Hojo! What are you doing? If you fire that again, you'll destroy Midgar!' 'So. A city, a thousand cities, all will be sacrificed to help my son!' 'You're mad, you damned bastard!' 'Ah, Reeve, tell me, are you still in contact with Avalanche? You have been getting awful chummy with them. I'll bet you are in a transmission with them.' 'What? You, soldier, place executive Reeve under arrest!' 'You can't do that Scarlet!' 'Wrong. If President Rufus is dead, control of the Company goes to me. Heidegger, come on, we need to stop Hojo, and I have a new toy I want to try!' 'So long Reeve, GHA-HA-HA!' …Well, that stinks. So, Cloud, what do we do next?"

Cloud said "Stop Hojo," while Vincent said "Kill Hojo."

"I think we all know where we're going. Hey assholes," Cid said, meaning the crew, "I want to be over Midgar before I can spit! MOVE IT!"

"Well, hello Cloud." Cloud stopped and turned around. Behind him, Reno, Rude and Elena walked up. "How you been?"

"Reno, I don't have the time to deal with you, Rude, or her. Cloud, I trust you can handle them," Vincent said before running forward.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Reno.

"One name, Lucrecia Crescent," replied Yuffie before following him.

Reno nodded, fully understanding. "So Cloud, how are…" was all Yuffie heard before it faded away. She soon caught up to Vincent, running at a sprint.

"Do you know where to go?" No answer. "I guess not."

"…The canon is attached to the Shin-Ra building. If I can't climb the scaffold to the station, I'll go along the canon. Either way, I plan on killing him before the night is through."

The two came across the Shin-Ra building before the scaffold. Going inside, they made their way up to the floor that the two were joined, collecting items along the way. But there was a slight problem. One of the shots from Diamond destroyed the hallway leading to the only way onto the canon from the building.

"I guess destiny doesn't want us to go through this way," said Yuffie.

"Freeze!" Yuffie and Vincent turned around to see over a dozen armed soldiers pointing their rifles at them. "I said freeze!"

"Well, this doesn't look good," Yuffie stated as she raised her arms, as did Vincent. As they started to lower their guns, Yuffie pulled a few shurikens out of her arm guard, dived to the side, and threw them, each embedding themselves into an eye of four soldiers.

Vincent also dived to the side, when he came up, he was in an alcove. Across from him, Yuffie was also in one. "I don't suppose you have an idea?"

"Nothing comes to mind," replied Vincent. In his mind, he made a mental check of all he and Yuffie had to deal with them. He had the Cerberus and the Death Penalty, Yuffie had the Rising Sun. Their Materia included Contain, Odin, Leviathan, a mastered Ice attached to Magic Counter, Mimic, Cure with an All, an Enemy Skill that was mostly complete, and both had a Lightning and Fire. Yuffie also had Morph and Vincent had Deathblow.

The Cerberus fired as two Soldier tried to come up on them. One scurried back, the other fell over.

"…Yuffie, Leviathan! And make sure to press yourself hard against that wall!" Vincent dug his claw into the floor and pushed his feet against the wall. When she did her best to secure herself, Yuffie activated Leviathan. The now familiar feeling of his senses expanding took place and he saw the sea serpent. Any moment now, he would flood the hall with water. The only problem was that while he and Yuffie wouldn't be hurt by the water, their bodies were still there. And could be thrown out with the soldiers.

Water rushed by him, carrying the soldiers with it, and fell out of the hole. Leviathan disappeared and Vincent breathed again. Despite his best, the water had pushed his feet from the wall. If his claw hadn't been in the floor, he would have gone over too. Yuffie was still where she had set herself. Letting go of the wall, she stepped out into the hall. "That was fun."

A gun fired, hitting her in the arm. Vincent was over to her in half a heart beat. Grabbing her, he heard two more bullets being fired and felt them take him in the left side of his back. Spinning, he pulled the trigger on the Cerberus. All three bullets hit the soldier's head.

"Damn, missed one," Yuffie said, pressing hard on the wound. Vincent cast regenerate on her and the tear knitted back together. "Hey, what about you?" Yuffie pulled aside his cloak and found two round holes in his shirt. And the bullets were right beneath them, flattened. Lifting the bullets from his skin, she found it was only bruised. "Interesting."

"One of the results from Hojo, I'm afraid. His experiments gave me a nearly indestructible body, and then they killed me. It still hurts like hell though."

"I imagine," Yuffie said touching one of the spots, his whole back tensed. "Sorry, Vinnie!"

"Don't worry about it… We better get down there; we won't get to him from here."

At the bottom, they found Cloud about to go up. "Don't bother, we were just up there, Spike," said Yuffie, "the way to it has been destroyed."

"Well, that sucks."

When they came out of the man hole, they saw the scaffold to the controls only a few blocks away. As they headed to it, something big stepped into their way. "We just can't get rid of you!" stated Scarlet.

"GHA-HA-HA! So, let's just kill them," replied Heidegger

"Why are you protecting Hojo!" yelled Cloud. "If he fires again, we'll all die!"

"Correction, you are going to die and we'll stop Hojo," answered Scarlet.

"If you refuse to let us pass, we'll go through you," Vincent said, pulling out the Death Penalty and aiming it at the two.

"Nice gun, but it will never get through the Proud Clod's armor!" Scarlet retorted.

They went inside and closed the hatch. Vincent pulled the trigger, and a shot hit the hatch. "OH SHIT!" came over the speaker on the thing.

Finally the Proud Clod was destroyed and they ran forward. Going to the top, they found Hojo at the controls. "Hojo!"

He spun around and looked at Vincent. "Well, well, if it isn't my failed experiments. To think, of all my experiment, two of my failures are my strongest. Except for Sephiroth of course"

"You Bastard, he was your son!"

"Temper, temper Vincent Valentine. He is still my son. My son and Jenova's." Vincent actually started to growl, and some fangs grew in his mouth. Hojo stared at it for a moment, unsure what was happening. "It doesn't matter what you do, I will still fire this mako canon."

"Hojo," Cloud said, "we have had allot of people say something like that lately, guess what they didn't do."

"Well, there is a difference between me and them," he pulled out a vial and drank it. At the same time, Vincent let out the rage that had been building up. Chaos stepped out of the darkness that had surrounded him.

"**Hello, good doctor. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Chaos."**

"Whoa, I never thought the Vamp actually had real demons," Barret said.

Two monsters appeared at the side of Hojo, while he pulled out a gun. But he was still no stronger than a normal soldier. But then his body mutated.

Yuffie was in back, ready with Cure spells and phoenix downs when ever someone needed them. Otherwise, she was too transfixed on Chaos to do much else. Chaos looked allot like Vincent, his face was almost the same. Which made sense, it was Vincent's body. But it appeared his cape had become Chaos's wings. His hair had grown ridged and spiky. His right hand was now also clawed. And his skin was even paler, almost blue. To say the least, it turned him from appearing only deadly to looking like Death incarnate.

He was constantly up at Hojo, tearing parts off him as fast as he could re-grow the missing pieces. This caused damage to himself as well, so Yuffie spent allot of healing on him.

Hojo took notice of where the healing was coming from and tried to attack her. But again, Chaos got in his way. **"Hello Yuffie, I am so glad to finally meet the person whom has caused the greatest amount of unrest in my host,"** Chaos said this with a smile, meaning it, in part, as a joke.

"… A pleasure," Yuffie stammered.

Hojo changed again after an attack from Tifa. This form was lithe and small. It didn't have any hands to cast spells. In their place were blades. And he seemed to have gone berserk. He was attacking everyone with an abandon.

"**The Jenova cells have taken over his body. Soon his mind and soul will be destroyed."**

"Wait, why didn't that happen to Vincent? Or Lucrecia, I saw her."

"**Right, about that…Lucrecia is dead; her body has long since turned to dust. Only her soul and mind still remain. As for Vinnie…"** At that moment, Hojo started attacking him. **"I'm afraid I'll have to continue this later."**

The fight lasted another ten minutes before Hojo fell. And without anymore energy brought out by the fight, Chaos didn't have a chance to finish talking with Yuffie. But that was okay, he could still tell Vinnie.

**_Lucrecia, I have avenged you._** In the back of his mind, he felt Galian Beast stretch and say, _when am I going to get to come out again!_ **_Not to mention killing him for putting these four in my mind._**

**Ah, about that, there is something I've been waiting for the right time to tell you. Only I was put in here. The other three are the result of your mind coming in contact with me. _They are creation of my own mind? _Made very real by me. You could probably gain control while in their bodies. Maybe even my body. _Like I will believe that. Wait, did I just say 'like!' _Yes, you are Vincent. Think about it, what do you see yourself as? A beast, a monster, and a… _Murderer._ All of which are far from the truth, by the way. Also, I am not a demon, per say. I am a weapon for the Planet, created from Lifestream that has been contaminated with some substance. But that isn't the worst of the things I have to tell you. _Which is?_**

…**Hojo did not put me in your mind. I came after his experiments on you. _But who put you in my mind then? _…Lucrecia Crescent. _Liar!_ No, you were dead. And Lucrecia couldn't let you die too. _Too? …You mean my father, Grimoire, don't you? _Yes. The container with contaminated Lifestream ruptured. Grimoire pushed Lucrecia out of its path and ended up in it. He died moments later.**

**Anyway, your body was decomposing, but it wasn't too late to save you…by her thinking. Personally, I thought you a corpse for a few hours. Yet, somehow, she was able to combine us. After that, I don't remember anything.**

**The Jenova cells you had in you were destroyed by me after my…grand entrance. _That's it?_ That's it. _…So she pushed me away because she didn't want to be reminded that she was the cause of my father's death._ Yeah. I think Cloud is calling you.**

"Vincent! We need to get people out of this area! There's a reactor under the Headquarters! It was probably damaged by the attack!"

Vincent nodded. "I'll start getting the wounded together and helping the EMS in the building."

"Alright, Yuffie, you get this sector. Tifa, sector 2, Barret…"

Vincent stopped paying attention. He took one look at where the body of Hojo had fallen, which had turned back to normal, and went to the Shin-Ra Headquarters.

He had just finished with the headquarters and had walked outside. But something was bothering him. And it was Hojo. Pulling out his PHS, he called Yuffie. "Yuffie, check the Mako Canon." "Why we've already been there… What on earth!"

"Thank you Yuffie." Hanging up the PHS, he ran for the controls. **He just doesn't want to die, does he? _I'll have to disappoint him._**

When he got there, he saw Hojo over the controls. Upholstering the Cerberus, he aimed at his head. But an explosion blasted from the mako storage cell. Hojo's body was destroyed, being so close to the blast. With the scaffold falling, Vincent realized he was about to die, it was a long drop.

"VINNIE!" Vincent lifted his head and saw Yuffie heading to him on a borrowed EMS hover bike. He jumped on and took the controls, being that Yuffie was about to be sick. **Okay, now he is dead. **"Yuffie, you have beautiful timing."

Author's notes: (checks watch) I'm tire, you take it Chaos.

**Now why should I? **

Because if you don't, I won't let you in on how this fic ends.

…**You have a very good point. 1sniperwolf doesn't own Final Fantasy 7. He is a pitiful mortal who will likely amount to nothing.**

Hey, stop being mean!

**What, does the truth hurt? **

YES!

**I have done what you ask, now tell me!**

Fine, fine, now listen well. …(whisper, whisper)… Now don't speak a work of it!

**Wait, who the HELL is Shelk!**

What did I just say.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Everyone, this is it. With Shin-Ra out of the way, the only thing that await us is Sephiroth. No one else can fight, so there is only one chance. If we fail to kill Sephiroth, no one else can. More over, we might not even be able to do anything about it. So before we continue, go home and see your loved ones. And if you want to come with me, be back here in two days. If you don't, if you just want to stay with them, I understand. Tonight, after dinner, Cid will drop you off anywhere you want. Everyone…dismissed."

While everyone went to their rooms, Vincent went up onto the observation deck. For near thirty years, he had been dreaming of this, of seeing Hojo die for all he has done. And he did not believe that the death he suffered was enough. But he was square with the house now, as they say. He was dead, nothing more need said about it.

"A gil for your thoughts."

Vincent turned and saw Yuffie join him. "I was just thinking about who I was going to go to. Thirty years is a long time for people to live through. I don't think I have anyone left to go see."

"…Then I will just stay with you," Yuffie said as she sat down next to his right. Vincent didn't even know how to reply to that. **Alright Vinnie, time to make your move.**

"That's okay Yuffie; you must have someone in Wutai you must want to see." **What are you doing!**

"No, I'm content to stay with you. And besides, who will cook for me if I don't?" The sudden change in her tone made him laugh.

"Alright, what would you like for dinner?"

"Some egg drop soup, and egg rolls."

"Right away, Lady Kiseragi."

Vincent went down to the Mess hall and made them for her and him. Putting them in a tray, he took a large bowl with the soup, two smaller ones, two spoons, a plate with eight egg rolls, a bowl of sauce, a pot of tea and two cups up to her. "Dinner, as promised," Vincent said as he set it down between him and her.

"Thank you," was all Yuffie said before she started eating an egg roll. Vincent poured himself a cup of tea when he heard something on the other side of the door.

"Yo, what are they doing?"

"Shut up or the vamp 'ill hear you. They are just sitting there eating." Vincent then heard foot steps coming up behind them.

"Ah, Cid, have you ever gotten the feeling death is hovering above you?"

"What do you mean, Barret? …Ah, hell, Tifa, we weren't doing nothing. Really."

"Stop talking, you #$#$ fool and started running!" The next thing Vincent heard was the sound of a fist coming in contact with two skulls and then her telling them not to bother him and her again.

"Vinnie, did you hear something?"

"Just some bothersome flies being swatted, is all. How's the soup?"

"Why do you ask that when you know what I will say? It is perfect." When they were almost finished, a cold wind started blowing. Yuffie moved the tray aside, moved next to Vincent and wrapped his cloak and arm around her.

The next day, Cid started dropping everyone off, starting with Red XIII

"Hello, Rain. Have you seen my grandfather?"

"Thank the planet, you're here Nanaki. Your grandfather is up in his house, he's dieing."

"What!" Red XIII ran through the buildings and went through the door to his grandfather's home. "Grandfather?"

"Ah, so good to see you Nanaki. I was afraid I was going to miss you."

"No, you can't die, not yet!"

"And when would you have me die? Don't worry, we'll meet again. Here, I've been saving this for you, it's you father's."

"I don't care about that, you have to be okay."

"Nanaki, you are going to go fight, correct? Make sure you beat Sephiroth. I would like everything on this planet to continue living."

"I will, Grandfather."

"Oh, how proud your parents must be to see you now. Ah ho…ho…ho."

"Grandfather? Grandfather!"

The next stop took Barret to Kalm, to Marlene. Cait Sith was dropped off at Midgar. He didn't have anyone to go to so he went to help anyone he could in the city.

Vincent and Yuffie he dropped off at the Chocobo ranch, and then he stopped outside of Rocket town and went to see Shera.

"You kids have better keep your clothes on!" Cid said as he made his way to Rocket Town. Cloud only dropped his head into his hand.

"So Yuffie, this is our last day off for awhile, what do you want to do?"

"…While we were flying around, I saw the last of Materia Caves. Let's go get them and figure it out from there."

"I'll saddle up Zen'Nathas and Sel'tur Z'har then." Five minutes later, Yuffie and Vincent were heading for the ocean. "So Yuffie, where is the next one?"

"In a desert blocked by a river and mountain, by Costa del Sol."

"What have we here?" Yuffie said as she picked up a support materia. Putting it in a slot, she closed her eyes. "Whoa," Yuffie said as she started to lose her balance.

Grabbing her shoulder, Vincent asked, "What is it, Yuffie?"

"…I'm okay now. It's just that I felt my life weaken when I put it in. But at the same time, I felt my mana rise significantly. In perfect proportion of the loss, now that I think of it."

"A materia that switches life and mana? What good is that? Mana is never large."

"I don't know Vinnie," Yuffie said as she took it out. "The next one is east by northeast of here, in an extinct volcano. I'll race you there."

Vincent jumped on the back of Zen'Nathas, "You won't win this time." Urging the chocobo onward, he looked back only long enough to see Yuffie was a second behind him.

The two chocobos ran as hard as they could; one trying to gain the lead, the other trying to hold it. When they reached the beach of goblin island, the riders pull the reins left, directing them north by northeast. With Zen'Nathas still in the lead, they climbed the mountain and went down the other side. When he touched the forest, Yuffie had Sel'tur Z'har jump the rest of the way. Landing right next to Zen'Nathas, it became a sprint to reach the cave first.

Dodging through the forest, the two chocobos were only a hundred feet away from the cave. Wanting to win as much as her rider, Sel'tur Z'har put on an extra burst of speed.

A jutting root that had gone unnoticed tripped her, sending both sprawling across the ground.

Stopping so hard it almost made Zen'Nathas fall too, Vincent jumped down and ran to Yuffie. "Yuffie! Speak to me!"

"I'm okay Vinnie; I just have a few scrapes and bruises. How's Sel'tur Z'har?"

Looking for the bird, Vincent saw her get back on her feet, shaking. "She appears to be alright, just unnerved." Picking Yuffie up and placing her on Zen'Nathas, he grabbed the reins and led them into the cave. Once inside, he gave both Yuffie and Sel'tur Z'har a thorough check to make sure nothing was broken, sprained, or strained.

When they both checked out okay, and Vincent wasn't worried anymore, he went over and grabbed the summons materia. Looking inside, he saw thirteen knights standing in a circle, swords raised and points touching.

Walking over to where Yuffie was laying down, Vincent showed her the materia. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of it and were instantly filled with greed. But before she could put it in a slot, Vincent put it in the Cerberus.

"Sorry Yuffie, you already have Typhoon and Leviathan, this one is mine. We'll leave in a half hour."

"And where do you plan on taking us?" Yuffie asked, pouting a little over the lost of the materia.

"…I know a spot that makes a nice camp site."

To Yuffie's standards, this site was not nice. It was on top of a flat mountain south east of Cosmo Canyon. It was dry, it was too warm, and there was no easy supply of fire wood.

"Okay, Vincent Valentine. How exactly is this a nice camp site?"

Vincent looked at the setting sun, picked up a handful of dust and let it drop, and looked at his watch. "You'll see in about…four and a half minutes."

Yuffie sat down and waited. After three minutes, the sun was gone. After four minutes, a cool south wind started blowing. And at the said time, flowers, that Yuffie thought of as nothing but weeds, started blooming. They produced a soft blue glow. The patterns on the inside of the blooms glowed a pale yellow and green.

The center of the mountain, a spring started flowing. The water flowed over the ground and it fell over the edge. On one of the few spots that remained dry, Yuffie's mouth was hanging open.

"That is how, Yuffie."

That night, when they finally made out their sleeping rolls, Vincent took the first watch. He already knew he was going to have trouble sleeping tonight so he planned on having the watch all night.

Besides the soft coos from the sleeping golds and Yuffie's breathing, he didn't hear a thing. In fact, if it wasn't for Meteor, this night would have been peaceful.

"Hey Vinnie, may I ask a question?

"You just did but go ahead."

"How do you know if you're in love? And how do you know when they love you back?"

That surprised him. "…Yuffie, I don't think I'm the person t ask questions like that." Looking at her, he saw she was only sleep talking. He sighed and answered her anyway. "When you put that one person before anyone or anything in your life is often a good sign of it. And I have no clue about the second."

Author's notes: You know I really don't have a clue about that. I would like to apologize to my readers about a mix up in order. The gold chocobo is the reward for the Desert Rose. The guide book is rewarded with the underwater materia.

I do not own Final Fantasy 7 nor any of the characters used above.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Anyone not ready for this?" Cloud asked, looking over the edge down to where Sephiroth was waiting. When no reply came, Cloud jumped onto the first ledge leading down.

Taking out the Death Penalty, Vincent followed him. Behind him, he heard the sound of the others jumping. At the bottom, they found a squared floor.

"Hey Sephiroth, get out here! We need to kick your ass and save the planet already!" Yuffie yelled. Vincent couldn't help but turn to her and raise an eyebrow.

"I think you have been hanging around Cid and Barret to much."

Moments later, something larger than life slammed into the ground right next to them. "Jenova!" Vincent heard someone yell. "No kidding," Yuffie yelled back.

Jenova started it by casting stop on half the group. She then swept a claw across them, smiling at the pain she caused. She was about to do it again but Barret caught the arm and Cloud brought the Ultima Weapon down on it. "Yuffie, release them of that stop!" Cloud said as he started for the other arm. But before he got to it, she swung it at Vincent.

Vincent held up his claw and it went right through the hand. Grabbing one of the bones to make sure she didn't move, he aim the Death Penalty at her head and started firing. It seemed that she had become a living target. But she then ripped the arm out of its socket and cast a mass poison 3 on all of them, with Vincent getting the brunt of it. Shrugging off the pain, he continued to fight.

Yuffie went into her Enemy Skills list and used White Wind. Of the eight of them, only five of them were within reach. Cid and Cait Sith, two of the remaining poisoned allies used an antidote. Vincent, of course, didn't bother with it. She was about to go help him when an arm regenerated. Jenova slammed it down, blocking her from him.

With everyone hitting it, she soon got desperate enough to start using more powerful magic. A green light filled the area and then exploded.

Vincent took a few steps back and fell to one knee. He started coughing and when he moved his claw from his mouth, he saw blood on it. **Vinnie, even with your body, if you don't do something about the poison, you will die. _I'm too busy Chaos._ Listen Vinnie; if you want to continue fighting, you are going to need to do something… I'm coming out. _Not a chance, I'm not losing control._ I know you're not willing to. You will remain in control.**

Without giving Vincent the choice, he was surrounded by darkness again. When it dissipated, Vincent was able to stand again. Looking at his hands, he saw they were claws and his skin was more like leather. He took a deep breath and found that the poison was gone. Looking up, he saw everything moving slower and his sight was even better. Moving up to Jenova, his claws started ripping through her flesh.

Yuffie saw Chaos appear and for a moment he stood there. Then he ran up to Jenova and started tearing at her with his claws. She brought an arm around and knocked him away from her. He then used a claw to slow himself down and stopped next to her.

"**_Yuffie, does Chaos always move this fast?"_**

"Vincent?"

He didn't stay for an answer. He flew up and hit Jenova with Chaos Saber. Both of her arms were destroyed and several parts of her flesh fell off. She then fell to the ground, no longer floating. Her breath came slower and then it stopped. With the fight over, Vincent changed back to his normal form. **Now that wasn't so bad, was it Vinnie? _Worse than I could ever have imagine._**

"Well, where's Sephiroth?" asked Barret as he reloaded his gun. The ground then started falling out from underneath them. When they stopped falling, they landed on a rock.

"HAHAHAHA! You just don't give up, do you? You have lost. This planet is dead. I will join with the lifestream and become a god."

"That won't happen, Sephiroth, not while we still breathe!" Cloud yelled as he raised his sword.

"Then I will have to change that, won't I.?" Sephiroth changed, turning into a monster.

"Yuffie, Vincent, to the right! Barret, Cid, Cait Sith, to the left! Tifa, Red XIII, you're with me! Surround him; make sure he doesn't get a chance to do anything!" Cloud ordered, using Big Guard on everyone.

"I guess now is as good a time to use this materia, don't you think?" Vincent asked Yuffie as a red materia started glowing. All eight of them disappeared, and thirteen knights took their place. They each hit him, doing more damage than any of them could have done. When it was over, a shocked expression filled Sephiroth's face and several parts of him fell off, destroyed. He then fell, dead.

"…Wow, that was easy," Yuffie muttered.

"Almost disturbingly easy," Vincent finished. Everyone agreed with him.

"That was anticlimactic," Cait Sith said.

**Ah, Vinnie. _What is it Chaos? _Heads up.**

Vincent looked up and saw a tunnel of light. "I thought it was too easy. Not to bother anyone but please look up."

"Vincent, try that summons again."

Ultima end was again used on Sephiroth. But he took it and attacked with Super Nova.

When it was over, they all fell over, almost dead. "Well, that hurt," Yuffie muttered.

Tifa pulled out a mega-elixir and threw it in the air. The bottle shattered and the multi-colored dust fell down on the group. Able to move again, each used their limit, save Vincent, he used Kights of the Round twice, on Sephiroth. Even when they all finished, he only laughed.

"Does anyone have an idea?"

"Just keep hitting him, he's going to break sooner or later!"

"Hopefully, sooner, rather than later," Yuffie said in frustration.

"Vincent, can you use that summons again?" someone called to him.

"No, I'm out of MP."

**_MP… Of course!_** Yuffie grabbed a violet materia from her bag and slipped it into a slot of Vincent's Dragon Armor.

Vincent was a little shocked for a moment after she did. He now had enough MP to use Knights of the Round enough times to kill Ruby _and_ Emerald Weapon! Yuffie had just put in the materia that switches its owners HP and MP! "Fire away, Vinnie!" He couldn't help but smile as he did.

As soon as that one had finished, Yuffie used Mime, to give Vinnie a breather and still hurt Sephiroth.

Sephiroth face had turned from arrogant to a grimaced. Waving the wing that was now his right arm, a _wall_ formed between them. Even as the spell finished, Tifa had dispelled it.

After that, he couldn't put up any defense. And with Yuffie and Vincent stopping his movements with Knights of the Round, he couldn't attack. After only five more, Sephiroth died, unable to hold the form any longer.

The clouds that were around them were gone, revealing now that it was only the result of fighting so near Holy. For a moment, Cloud didn't move. And Vincent guessed it was because of that tendril of lifestream that entered his body while no one else was looking. But when Tifa started calling him and the ground beneath her gave out, he came to his senses. Saving her from falling into Holy, he pulled her and himself up onto a safe ledge.

"…Does anyone else remember that this spot is going to be destroyed in a #$$# moment!"

"Yes, Marshmallow, we remember. But we are a mile underground. What can we do?" As if to emphasize this, Holy started to shake.

"Shit man…" Cid said as he lit up a cigarette but, looking up, it fell out of his mouth. The crater lip was falling down around them. Pressing themselves against the wall, they waited for it to stop. When it did, nearly the most beautiful sight was in front of them: the Highwind.

On board, Cid scrambled for the controls. "Get this piece of SHIT off the ground!"

Vincent, who was at the door to the observation deck trying to secure it shut, yelled up to him, "We're about to go up anyway! Grab hold of something!"

Author notes: Is that a cliff hanger or what? Only one more chapter of Final Fantasy 7 left. I don't own Final Fantasy 7; I own a game disc of both play station games as well as a DVD of the movie and a wall scroll from a store called Charismo in Manhattan, KS, (I so love that store, FEED YOU INNER OTAKU!) it deals in hard to find Japanese mercandise, anime, FF7, etc. Yes, I am an Otaku, I am not ashamed of it (holds head high).

But I haven't tried the Before Crisis and others that are for a Cell Phone, don't have the time to go through them, too busy unlocking all the hidden features on DoC.

Until next time, _ittekimasu_!

By the way, the translator I use to get Japanese words written in English is http://linear. of difficult, but it works.

See you!


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The Highwind was thrown up into the air, being tossed around like a toy. Both the right and left propeller tail were broke off. "#$&!" Cid said as he reached for a switch. Several parts of the Highwind fell off as a pair of wings was extended and a rocket engine was exposed and fired from the back.

Yuffie lasted all of a half a second after righting before she ran to the bathroom. Vincent picked himself up from across the cargo room where he was thrown and checked himself over to see if anything was broken. Walking into the cockpit, he asked if the world was saved or doomed.

"Well, there goes Holy, let's see," Barret said, watching it go.

Holy went right over Midgar and set itself to block Meteor. But it was too late; Meteor forced its way trough and even turns Holy to its use.

"Shit…" Cid muttered.

"Hey, what's that?!" Tifa said, pointing to something green started coming out of a near by hill. It was soon joined by thousands of other strands, all of them heading for Meteor. They all converged and Meteor was destroyed.

On the plains on the other side of the world, a woman wearing a simple but elegant dress was laying on the ground looking up at the blue sky, humming and smiling. "You took an awful big chance, Terra." She turned her head up and saw a man in his late twenties standing there. He was six feet tall, had short cropped, black hair, and mako blue eyes.

"It all worked out, didn't it Fate?"

"For now," Fate answered. "There is still allot of trouble to come you way. I'll say it worked out in three years." With that, he turned around and started walking away. "Out of all the well behaved planets in the universe, why do you cause me so much trouble?"

Terra stuck her tongue at him, "Because you had set two good people to be alone. And I'm tired of seeing my children hurt."

Fate shook his head and let his avatar disappear. Terra put him out of her mind and yawned. "That took allot out of me, didn't it?" she asked to no one in particular. A wolf padded up to her and set himself to watch over her as she went to sleep.

Twelve hours later, there was a celebration in Costa del Sol. With Meteor and Sephiroth destroyed, the remaining Weapons had returned to sleep and wait for the next time the planet is in danger. Mako reactors had all shut down from the lack of mako; most had over heated without the mako and was beyond repair on most parts. Even Midgar wasn't safe. Mako Reactor Zero under the Headquarters had ruptured and was flooding the city with Mako. There were plans of building a city at the edge of Midgar for the people now without homes. Creatively enough, it's supposed to be called Edge.

Vincent was sitting in a chair, away from the celebrators. The band was playing a fast beat song and Vincent could see Cloud trying his hardest to dance with Tifa. Barret was worrying over the daughter he hadn't seen in so long. Cid was with Shera, apologizing for how much of an ass he had been to her. Red XIII was lying in the shade, trying not to get to hot in the ninety degree temperature. Vincent couldn't blame him; he had to take off his cloak himself.

And Reeve was sitting at a table with Cait Sith, without the giant mog, talking about creating something about the World Regeneration Organization, or WRO, but he needed funding for it. But that wouldn't be hard to find. When the fighting was all over with, they each had over fifty million Gil.

Vincent looked around, realizing that he didn't know where Yuffie was. He saw her, talking to the materia salesman. "With the reactors about to be destroyed, the only materia that are going to be available is the materia already available and the materia that are produced naturally. So here, this is all the materia I bought from you that I didn't use."

"Yuffie, I don't need them. You keep them; give them to your friends as a gift or to people who need them. And besides, I'm about to change what I sell anyway." The store owner shooed her away and told her to have fun, "This is a party!"

Vincent sighed, with fighting over; there was nothing left for him to do. But he couldn't go back to that coffin. So what was next for him? He knew what he wanted: Yuffie. He sighed again.

Just because he wanted to be with her, doesn't mean he could. The band started a new song and Vincent almost laughed at how much that seemed to be him.

I don't wanna feel anything today  
(I don't wanna feel anything today)  
Anything at all I'll just be alone  
(I just wanna know that you wanna know)  
I don't wanna live through another day  
(I don't wanna live through another day)  
Meaningless to fight for the victory  
I just wanna dive in the heart of misery

One love (One love)  
One life (One life)  
Locked me in the heart of misery  
One loss (One loss)  
One fight (One fight)  
Locked me in the heart of misery

I will never be anything again  
(I will never be anything again)  
I'm tired to give I don't wanna try  
(I'm afraid to live, I'm afraid to die)  
I just wanna fly throw it all away  
(I just wanna fly throw it all away)  
Meaningless to fight for your sympathy  
I just wanna drown in the heart of misery

One love (One love)  
One life (One life)  
Locked me in the heart of misery  
One loss (One loss)  
One fight (One fight)  
Locked me in the heart of misery

One man forgot to breathe  
One heart refused to beat  
One love is incomplete

One loss  
One life  
Locked me in the heart of misery  
One loss  
One fight  
Locked me in the heart of misery

One love (One love)  
One life (One life)  
Locked me in the heart of misery  
One loss (One loss)  
One fight (One fight)  
Locked me in the heart of misery

Ahh ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhh  
In the heart of misery  
Ahh ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhh  
In the heart of misery

Vincent stood up and put on his cloak. Turning around, he started walking away. Outside of town, he heard a voice telling him to stop.

"Vinnie, where are you going?"

"Yuffie, I…I just need to go."

"Why? You're not a monster!"

"Maybe I'm not. But I'm not a human either. I am sorry, Yuffie, I need to go."

During that whole exchange, she didn't even so much as see him turn his head. Stuck where she was, she watched him walk away, from his friends, his new life, and from her. Tears slid down her cheek as she went back. She couldn't help but notice a small river to the west of town that had split off into two small streams not long after they had joined.

Author's notes: **_sniff, sniff._**

I'm sorry Yuffie. But Vincent has new demons he needs to come to terms with before he can be with you.

_**But I could have helped him!**_

Maybe, but he probably thinks that having you there with him will hurt both you and him. I believe this demon has something to do with seeing Lucrecia again as his feelings for you were maturing. And then finding out that it was Lucrecia that joined him to Chaos, that couldn't have done any good.

Sigh, I don't owe FF7. Nor do I own the song above. That song is called Heart of Misery, with Rasmus the ones who sing it. I don't know the creator.

I would like to thank the following people for their reviews:

Lightning Lita, my first reviewer.

Everytimeheaven

Yura Of The Hair

BruHaeven

DemonSurfer, thanks for the correction

I'm going to go forward, don't worry faithful readers. But I had to do this. Please review; let me know what you think.


	17. Advent Children: Chapter 1

Advent Children

Vincent held the necklace in his hand. He had spent nearly a million Gil to get the Throw materia Yuffie gave him set into this platinum necklace. He only had to give it to her. But he couldn't face her. Not after leaving like he did.

His hand brushed over the materia he kept inside the Cerberus. Their was only four, a Master Command, a Master Summons, a Master Magic, and the offspring of the Throw materia.

He looked around, seeing the forest he had long since memorized. **Penance, what a load of bull. The only way you'll find penance is if you go to Yuffie and ask her to forgive you.**

Vincent ignored the demon, just as he had for the last two years.

Two screams ripped through the forest around the Forgotten City. Following the screams to their source, he found Tseng and Elena being tortured. It was by three men with silver hair. "Where is Mother?" asked the leader.

"Brother, I don't think they are going to tell us," said the other with long hair, he had this weapon in his hand, a sort of bladed gun and it was still smoking.

"Don't cry, Yazoo," said the one with short hair.

Tseng stopped screaming long enough to say something. "She's not your mother! That bastard Hojo kidnapped you! He experimented on you and turned you into monsters! And the mother you want so much is dead! She didn't even go to the lifestream! She was sent to oblivion!"

A double bladed katana bit into his stomach. Yazoo turned to the short haired one and said, "Don't cry, Loz." Which he was about to do. "Kadaj, do you think mother is him, with Big Brother?"

"Maybe. Leave them, they'll die soon anyway." Kadaj said as he got on the bike. "He probable has the stigma now."

"Geostigma…" Vincent said, considering what was being said. He had read about Geostigma in a journal of Lucrecia. He had suffered from it after he had been brought back to life. But Chaos had destroyed it along with the cells of Jenova that had caused it.

Geostigma was the body overcompensating for the presence of the cells. It would cause great pain before finally killing the host.

"Kadaj, what if someone finds them?" Loz asked as he got on his bike. They may find out what we're planning?"

"It doesn't matter now. All we need is Mother and we will destroy the planet. We will bring back Sephiroth. But it might be a hindrance if someone does find them, so…"

He waved his hand at the two on the ground and a wave of energy was sent at them. As fast as Vincent could move, he jumped over to them, grabbed them, and ran back. An explosion hit the ground behind him and through them forward. The sound of motor cycles driving off revealed that they didn't see him. Laying the two on the ground, he check them over to see how bad off they were. Even with a full heal; it would be a miracle they survive.

Casting the spell on them, he went about making them as comfortable as he could. He couldn't do anything more, he only knew first aid. Going to the lake that Aeris was laid to rest. Going around it, he gave a sigh of relief when he found it wasn't…defiled was the only word that he could think of. Those three radiated evil, almost like Sephiroth.

If they're planning to destroy the planet like they say, then they are going to have to deal with Cloud and the others. They wouldn't let it be destroyed without a fight.

_**What do they mean by mother?**_

Going to Tseng, he shook him awake. "Tseng, who are they after?"

"The head…of Jenova."

"Why did they do this to you? It should have been one of the others or me. We were the one who killed her."

"We...we went to North Crater and… found it. They ambushed us and tried to take it."

Vincent's face was full of anger; he could see it in Tseng's eyes. "Once wasn't enough for you? You want the Jenova War to start again?"

Vincent must have been pressing on a wound because he passed out from pain. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself. Maybe they had a reason for doing this. He would ask him when he woke up.

"Yuffie, it's me, Reeve. I'm sorry Yuffie but I haven't found him. I don't think I will, either. Vincent was the best. If he doesn't want to be found, he won't be."

"That's okay Reeve. You can stop looking now, I'll continue by myself."

"Yuffie, I'll keep looking. I really don't think I could keep some of the WRO members from looking. All of us are heroes to them."

"There are better things you can have them do besides look for one person. Bye Reeve." Hanging up her cell phone, Yuffie hoisted her bag, and stood up. The wind from north of the Midgar region mountains grabbed the blanket she was sitting on and tried to blow it away.

Slamming a foot down on it, she grabbed it, rolled it up and put it on Sel'tur Z'har's back. Getting on herself, she kicked the gold's flanks and went in search of the next spot that a self loathing masochist would hide in.

After he had first disappeared, the first place she went to find him was the coffin in the bottom of the Shin-Ra mansion. When she found he wasn't there, she went to Lucrecia's cave. She even showed herself and told Yuffie that he hadn't been to see her.

The moonlight sonata started playing from her phone and she answered it. "Hiya!"

"Hi Yuffie, its Tifa. How've you been?"

"I'm doing fine Tiff. Still no word on where Spike went to?"

"No, it seems that both our guys don't want to be found… Denzel is getting worse. I don't think he's going… to…"

"Tiff, don't! The moment you give up, he's going to give up! Now, take a deep breath…okay, let it go. Now say it with me, a…cure…will…be…found. And I'm willing to bet that as long as he doesn't give up, it won't beat him!"

Tifa said it and took another deep breath. "You're right, there will be. But I would feel better if Cloud was here."

"Don't you let him hear that, understand?! If anyone needs anyone, he needs you!"

"Eh, and what about you and Vincent?" even over the phone, Tifa knew that made Yuffie blush. This drew the first smile since Cloud left.

"That was low," Yuffie said as darkly as she could manage.

"Where are you going next?" Tifa said between laughs.

"I'm going to check caves. I'm near the Mithril Mine right now. After that, I'm going to deserted islands; Goblin Island, the materia caves, the like."

"Try the Forgotten City as well… Yuffie, have you thought that maybe he doesn't want to be with you? That he doesn't care for you as you care for him?"

"Everyday. I have to go, I'm at the mine." Saying goodbye, Yuffie climbed down and led the chocobo through.

Vincent moved the two Turks away from the forgotten city. If he was alone, he might be able to take those three on and survive. But not if he had to protect Tseng and Elena as well. Moving them into the sleeping forest, he was sure they were safe. And he wouldn't endanger Zen'Nathas doing that. Taking them off the path, the magic of the forest would keep people from straying onto them. But as he knew where they were, he could go to them without being misled.

On the third night after finding the two, he saw a camp fire not far from where he was staying. Moving closer, he saw it was just a traveler. "I know you are there, why don't you come within the light." It was not a request.

Vincent moved within the light and got a good look at this person. His hair was had been sun bleached to almost white. He was wearing armor, chain mail made from Mithril, with two scimitars at his waist and a forest green cloak that was covering his right arm. But it was his eyes that told the story of this person. They were blue, deep and abyssal. And they were cold, colder than even winter's heart.

"Sit down, take a seat." Pouring a cup of tea, he motioned to the spot across from him. "So, what's your story?"

"What makes you think I have a story?"

"A person alone in the Sleeping Forest always has a story. It's like a bad cliché."

"…I'm here because I'm cursed, that's my story."

"You're cursed? Is that it?" asked the man.

"Listen, today anger spirits are all around us, killed from starvation, war, Mako. So you're cursed, so is the whole damn world. Take a look at this." Removing the cloak, he revealed an arm that was turning black. But it wasn't dying, it was changing. "Soon the person before you will no longer exist; something else will be in my place. I don't know what it will be; I just know that I will be dead. But I have accepted this, and have risen to meet it."

Vincent's expression told him he doubted what this person was saying. "I have heard a rumor about a man wanting eternal life, willing to pay a person who grants this a hill of gold. What he doesn't realize that if he gets it, he will spent eternity watching everyone around him die. Is that not a curse?

"A curse can even be as simple as loving someone who doesn't return it. This person can't stop loving that one even though it isn't returned."

"…Do you like giving speeches?"

"Hmm, must be my personality changing."

"…My curse is that I can't die." A look of surprise filled the man's face. "Thirty years ago, I was put to sleep. Two years ago, I woke up. And over these past two years, I haven't aged, not a day."

"And I thought I had it bad, but still, you shouldn't run away from your life. Or the girl you plan to give that to," he motioned to the necklace end that had come out of its pouch. "Move forward, maybe you will find something. If not, well there is always 'sheathing the sword'," the man made a motion of sheathing a sword inside his body.

"I guess there is that."

The man looked up into the sky and stood up. "Time for me to go, I still have to get somewhere." As he was about to leave Vincent's sight, Vincent asked his name. "Don't know yet what it will be but I was a man named Ganglere."

Author's Notes: Now we know why Vincent left. He couldn't stand the thought of seeing Yuffie grow old and him not being able to do it with her. The thought of immortality isn't bad. But it is when you can't spend it with the ones you love.

I got the idea of some of the text Ganglere says from Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke. I don't own Princess Mononoke or Final Fantasy 7. I just like their ideas.


	18. AC: Chapter 2

Advent Children

Chapter 2

The next morning, Vincent moved Tseng and Elena to a healing lodge outside of Bone Village. Saddling Zen'Nathas, he got on the chocobo and went after the three. But only half an hour, he saw Yazoo driving a truck full of children back to the Forgotten City. Stopping on a Gil, he turned and went after him.

Yuffie had just turned reached the outskirts of Midgar when someone on a bike stopped in front of her. "You, who are you?"

"Kiseragi, Yuffie Kiseragi. And you are?"

"So you know big brother…" He pulled out a double bladed Katana. Obviously, this person wanted a fight. She drew the Rising Sun shuriken from her back and got off Sel'tur Z'har. Patting the chocobo hard on the rump, Sel'tur Z'har ran from her.

"Do I want to know why you are attacking me?"

"I want Mother. And I'm sure big brother knows where she is. So if I have to hurt his friends, I will." He ran and slashed at her.

Yuffie jumped back and threw the shuriken. He blocked it and used the sword to throw it aside. Jumping to the side, she grabbed the shuriken as it was about to fly by. She was about to throw again but couldn't because he had moved to close. Using it as a fencing tool, she blocked the attack and tried to slice him with it. But close range was his territory and she knew this wasn't going to end too well for her.

After only five minutes, he had her on the ground and defenseless. He was about to bring the blades down into her chest when his phone rang. "I'm sure you won't mind," he said as he answered it. "Yes? …Alright, has Loz completed his mission? Alright, I'm coming." He hung up the phone and sheathed the sword. "Sorry, we'll have to finish this later. I need to go." Getting on the bike, he said, "Tell brother I'll be waiting for him," before driving away.

Yuffie couldn't believe this. She was dead to rights and he left, having something more important to do. She didn't even wonder who he meant by 'brother'. Her mind was still on what had happened.

Vincent followed at a good distance; only keeping track of him thanks to his superior eyesight. But he wasn't going to get close enough for him to see the bright colored chocobo.

It was dark went he stopped and went on by foot. When he got to the lake, he saw Kadaj had stepped into it and it became tainted. The children then drank the water and they changed. And for once, Vincent cursed not having a cell phone. **_Would Tseng or Elena have one?_**

**Why not, they didn't distance themselves from everything they knew.**

Heading back to them, he searched the two and found what he was looking for. But then he had another problem, he didn't know anyone's phone number. Pressing the Library key, he called Rude.

"…Rude, it's Vincent. I need you to tell Cloud and the others that a man named Kadaj is at the Forgotten City with a bunch of children. He is doing something to them, taking control of their minds, I think."

Hanging up the cell, Vincent went back to keep an eye on them. He saw them waiting. **_But for what?_**

Cloud was the reason. When he got there, Vincent first impulse was to join him. But his Turks training reminded him that surprise was the most powerful weapon in his arsenal. Once he revealed himself, that advantage would be gone. And if him and Cloud needed to fall back, they would have a hard time doing so. Better to wait and see.

Cloud drove his bike right up to them but the children got in the way. He rolled the bike and missed them, though they jumped out of way. "Kadaj, I'm here for the kids."

"You see this man, he's our big brother. But in our happy flock, he's what you call a black sheep." Kadaj leveled his double bladed katana with Cloud's neck. Vincent upholstered the Cerberus and pulled back the hammer.

Cloud knocked the sword away with his and jumped back. Loz hit the ground and use Earthquake. Cloud canceled it using blade beam. The fight went back and forth for only moment thought by moves it would take normal men minutes. But it ended with Cloud on the ground and about to die. Vincent jumped out and landed above him. Shooting the Cerberus, he got them to back off. Picking him up, he jumped back.

Dropping Cloud on the ground, he stepped back and waited for him to come to. "Cloud, are you unharmed?"

Cloud shook his head to remove the confusion as he stood up and answered, "Yes…Vincent, how've you been?"

He didn't answer. "Fine, what do you know about what is happening?"

"I come here often, trying to find peace. This time I found them here, torturing Tseng and Elena. They had it coming though; they had the head of Jenova."

"So when they say Mother…" Cloud started.

"Yes, they mean to finish what she started."

"What about Geostigma?"

Vincent turned his head, "It is the presence of alien matter inside the body. The body overcompensates for it and causes the symptoms. They are using it to gain power."

"…Tseng and Elena, are they dead?"

Vincent turned back to Cloud, his face revealing as much as a stone could. "No, they are alive. But I don't know for how long. They could very likely already be dead. But they were still alive when I left them so…"

Something stepped on a twig and the two turned around to face them. Marlene ran through the underbrush and up to Cloud and hugged him. "Cloud!"

"Thank the planet you are safe," Cloud said placing an arm around her. Vincent holstered the Cerberus while they were busy.

"Cloud, can I talk to Tifa?" He reached for it but found it lost. She then turned to Vincent. "May I?" He lifted his cloak, revealing he didn't have one. "How can you not have one?! With the way aunt Yuffie is always trying to reach you!" Vincent's face tensed for a moment but it was so slight, neither saw it. She then turned back to Cloud.

"Cloud, are you coming back?" Marlene asked, looking up with hope filled eyes.

"Marlene, please I need a little more time…" Marlene stepped back, turned and ran. Vincent lifted his cape for her to hide under.

"No, Cloud! Why don't you ever want to spend time with us?!"

"Marlene, please understand…"

"No I don't! Why don't you want to be with us?!"

Cloud spent a moment to reflect why. "Because I let her die," he said it so softly that Vincent barely heard it.

"Vincent, are sins ever forgiven?"

"I don't know, I've never tired." He answered it as stoic as always.

"Well, I'm going to try."

Marlene came out excitedly, "You mean…?"

"Let's go," Cloud said before turning, leading her to his bike.

Vincent was alone again, considering whether or not he should try. One side of his mind told him to help his friends, the other told him to stay away from Yuffie, that he could only hurt her. To fight or to stay?

To fight.

He whistled for Zen'Nathas and jumped on the bird. He has let enough people be hurt by his inactions.

Author's notes: **Oh, a dream is like a river, ever changing as it flows… Wha? Chaos, what are you doing at the computer? ARE YOU TYPING WHAT I'M SAYING!? Get away from it!**

(Whack, plow, slam)… …

**I'm sorry, the human known only as 1sniperwolf will not be joining you this day. In his stead, I will be taking his place. **(pokes a body with a stick) **He is severely incapacitated. But by now he would be saying how he doesn't own Final Fantasy 7, the first game or the movie, as that at this time; those are all he has used.**

**But being a _humble_, more likely forgetful, person, he wouldn't say that this story has had over than 3000 hits.** (1sniperwolf starts to get up; a chair is broken on his head.) **That isn't going to help him.**

**Now, he would ask you to review. No, not a chance. REVIEW THIS STORY, YOU PATHETIC HUMANS! Fill his e-mail with a thousand letters! And I'll sit here and make him read each and everyone!**

You evil, evil bastard…

**What? You have no idea how boring it is trying to torture Vinnie. But you are new! The fun has just started!**

(A priest burst in and starts chanting, holding a cross. Chaos shrinks away for a moment then laughs, hitting him into the next universe.) **I feel better, maybe I won't torture you.**

That's good, now can you stop sitting on me?!

**Hmm, no. Do whatever you want, humans. **


	19. AC: Chapter 3

Advent Children

Chapter 3

Bahamut Sin rose up into the air and released a blast down onto the monument of those who died during the Jenova Wars. Everyone that was still around it was thrown to the ground. Denzel opened his eyes and saw Tifa lying on the ground next to him. When he shook her arm, she didn't get up.

Denzel got up and turned to the dragon, "You son of a bitch!" He started running at it but a hand grabbed his shoulder.

Barret stepped in front of him and changed his robotic hand to a machine gun and opened fire on Bahamut Sin. "I'll take care of this! Marlene has better be okay!"

Behind them, Tifa got up. "Denzel!"

A four point shuriken was thrown at one of the hell hounds. Yuffie then made a grand entrance dropping from the sky via parachute. Denzel though it was rather impressive until she almost threw up. "All right, who's been messing with my material?!"

"The bad guys, naturally," Tifa said with a smile. As she ran forward, several hell hounds surrounded the two.

Cid dropped on one, impaling it on his spear. He then swung it around and knocked aside the rest of them. "She's a beauty," he said, pointing up at his new airship. "The Shera. I'll give you the grand tour later."

They heard a chocobo wark behind them. Vincent got off Zen'Nathas and pats him hard on the rump, sending him back to the stables. "Where can I get a phone?" he asked as he walked by them.

"Who's that?" Denzel asked.

"They're our friends." Denzel looked up at Tifa as if to say 'you have some weird friends'. They heard a bike next.

Cloud was behind them, putting his swords into his sheath. "Marlene is fine; I left her at the diner. I think I lost some weight. Must have been all that silly sally and dilly dally."

"Denzel, go back to Seventh Heaven," Tifa told him.

"Alright. Cloud, you're coming back, right?"

Cloud nodded. "Tifa, let's go!"

Vincent was jumping from spire to spire, firing the Cerberus. In the back of his mind, he kept a check of where everyone was. When his chance came, he jumped and landed right on Bahamut Sin's right shoulder. Firing at its face, he kept it from thinking about the others. Switching sides, he jumped off again. But he didn't jump fast enough. A claw came up behind him and knocked him down to the buildings.

Digging his claw into the metal, he righted himself and activated the green materia inside the Cerberus, casting haste on the group.

"We're not getting through the scales!" Barret called, charging up for another blast of his main canon.

Vincent holstered the Cerberus for a moment and grabbed the Death Penalty. He aimed for his chest and fired several times. The scales cracked and fell away and he holstering it again.

Barret was about to get hit but Cloud got there and saved him. "Where the hell have you been!?"

Determined to keep its attention on them, him, Yuffie, and Barret aimed for the break on the chest. Bahamut Sin turned to them and brought a claw down on Vincent. Unable to move in time, he could only absorb the blow.

"Vinnie!" Yuffie screamed when the claw hit the beam and bent it. But then the claw was forced up a bit and Yuffie let out a sigh of relief.

Vincent, though glad the claw didn't crush him, wasn't relieved. His claw was now stuck in one of the bones the made up the giant hand.

Cloud landed on its head and started slashing at its eyes. Bahamut Sin raised a hand to swat at the bothersome human, dragging Vincent along with it.

With nothing else to do, Vincent aimed the Cerberus at the claw and activated the Master Magic. Fire engulfed the claw, and Vincent, and seared away everything that wasn't fire proof. Vincent started falling, with some burns on his face but none the worse for wear.

As he landed on another beam, Bahamut decided enough was enough and took flight. Cloud jumped after him, reaching it with the help of Barret. But it knocked him back down to the surface. Cid spun his spear, using the momentum to send him back up. In turn, each of them gave a hand to Cloud, sending him farther than he would have alone. As Cloud was swallowed by the Giga Flare of the dragon, Vincent thought he saw a woman reach a hand out to him, a woman wearing a pink dress with long, brunette hair.

"She was always the one to help him the most wasn't she?" Vincent mused as he watched the Giga Flare dissipate and Cloud land on the dragon and used climb hazard on it, dealing the fatal strike.

Yuffie gave a cheer but cut it short when an explosion destroyed the top of a building. Oddly enough, Cloud was already on the Fenrir driving towards it. "How did he get on it so fast?"

Vincent shook his head, almost as dumbfounded as she was.

"Alright, everyone on board the Shera! And don't even think about puking on it, BRAT!" Cid yelled around the cigarette in his mouth.

"Shut up and start flying the THING!" Yuffie replied as she boarded the Airship.

When they finally caught up with Cloud, him and Kadaj fighting. "Cloud, I brought you materia. Whoa, hey watch it!" Yuffie said that last to Cid.

"Yo Cid, park this turkey!" Barret called to him.

"Shut up! You want off, jump! Get off my back!" Cid replied.

"He can handle this alone," Vincent said his arms crossed over his chest.

"Huh?" asked Yuffie.

"Kadaj is a remnant of Sephiroth. Think of him as a sort of larval form." Vincent stated.

"Larval, you mean, he's an insect?!" Yuffie asked, as a joke.

"Lassy, shut you trap," Cait Sith said from atop of Red XIII.

"So the punk's going to become Sephiroth," Cid said.

"Vincent, does Cloud know, about Kadaj?" asked Tifa.

"One would think," he replied.

"Then you're right. It's his fight now," Tifa said, turning back to the fight below.

"What, I don't get it, why can't we help out?" Yuffie asked.

"This is man talk." Cid said, just to agitate her.

"Sexist, Sexist!"

"Criky lass, shut you mouth!" Cait Sith said, getting agitated himself.

"Men don't get it either," Barret said, a little confused by it all.

"Two years ago. Think all the strength we had when we fought that last battle. It's only been a couple years but already that feeling is gone. But Cloud, I think he's found it again." Tifa said, explaining to those who didn't get it.

"Pht, he's got ten minutes," Barret said dismissively.

"That Cloud is a royal pain in the ass, like always," Yuffie said to Tifa.

"Cloud is Cloud," Tifa said in agreement. Vincent turned around and left the cockpit. "But I doubt that he is as big a pain in your neck as 'Vinnie'."

Yuffie glared at her for a moment and then sighed. "You have no idea."

Vincent went to the engine room and waited. Win or lose, he was no longer involved, it was Cloud's fight. With nothing else to do, he took out the Cerberus and started cleaning the barrels.

**Hello, Gaia to Vincent, come in Vincent! What in the name of the Nine Hells are you doing?!**

_**You are never going to give up, are you?**_

**No, now let's review, shall we? First, you love Yuffie, you have a gift for Yuffie, and you are only fifty feet from Yuffie. But you don't want to be with her why?**

_**Do you really have to ask that, you, the cause of why? I am no longer human.**_

**And the fun of being human is? Even if you're not human, you can still be with her. I swear, if you don't go talk to her, I will make you!**

**_No._** Vincent closed off the area of his mind that the demons had taken up residence and went about cleaning his gun.

**Stubborn ass** came from within his mind and he knew it wasn't from Chaos.

Just like Vincent predicted, Kadaj changed into Sephiroth. And Cloud was able to handle him. Seeing Sephiroth again didn't hurt him this time. The son of Lucrecia Crescent had already died, this was just another monster.

Yuffie was standing at by the door to the church thinking about all that had happened this time they had gotten together. And yet Vincent had barely said a word to her. She could tell he wanted to say something but something else was holding him back.

**_Wait, why am I just waiting here when I should go get him and force him to talk?!_** She turned outside and went searching for him.

Author notes: **_Ladies and gentlemen, I am sorry to inform you that 1sniperwolf is in severe condition due to the attack from Chaos. (Yuffie sticks her tongue out at Vinnie who sends the message on to the demon) And he apologizes for the delay in getting this fanfic back running._**

_**1sniperwolfdoes not own any of the Final Fantasy 7. Sad but true.**_


	20. AC: Conclusion

Advent Children

Conclusion

**Coward! You'll face dragons, demons, even weapons but you can't face one eighteen year old woman?!**

Vincent kept walking. As he did, Reno came running up to him. "Hey, Boss!"

"Reno, I told you when you were fourteen not to call me that and I was the boss then. What on Terra makes you think that I want you to call me that now?"

"Hey, come on, were still buddies, right?" Reno asked, knowing that he was annoying his friend.

"…Go away."

"Eh, sorry, I can't. You see, I'm here to distract you."

Vincent silently cursed as he spun. But he didn't do it in time. Rude got him under the arms and Tseng and Reno grabbed a leg and lifted him into the air. "Time to drink!" Reno said, throwing up his free arm.

Yuffie saw this and smiled. "Well, maybe I wasn't the only one to miss him." Following them not far behind, Reno, Rude, and Tseng carried him to the closest bar. "Hey Elena, Rufus, we got him!" Reno called as he entered.

They threw him down on a seat while Vincent once again regretted the choice of teaching these three stealth and distraction procedures. Not to mention falling for the same trap again.

"Hello Vincent, I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting you," Rufus said, offering a hand.

Vincent didn't take it. "Let's just get this over with. What's the game this time? Ninety-nine bottles or Whisky, Tall to Small."

"No game this time Vincent," Tseng said from beside him. "Just a few drinks with old friends and new."

One of the other patrons started the jukebox and Vincent almost laughed at it.

I walk along the avenue

I never thought I'd meet a girl like you, meet a girl like you.

With Auburn hair and stormy eyes

The kind of eyes that hypnotize me through, hypnotize me through.

And I ran, I ran so far away.

I just ran, I ran all night and day.

I couldn't get away.

A cloud appears above your head.

A beam of light comes shining down on you, shining down on you.

The cloud is moving nearer still.

Aurora Borealis comes in view, Aurora comes in view.

And I ran, I ran so far away.

I just ran, I ran all night and day.

I couldn't get away.

Reached out a hand to touch your face.

You're slowly disappearing from my view, from my view.

Reached out hand to try again.

I'm floating in a beam of light with you, beam of light with you.

And I ran I ran so far away.

I just ran, I ran all night and day.

And I ran, I ran so far away.

I just ran, I couldn't get away.

Despite himself, Vincent ordered a beer. "So, how have things been now that Shin-Ra doesn't exist?"

"Things have been…Boring," Rude said, pausing to take a drink from his beer.

"Hit the nail on the head with that one," Elena said, her words already a bit slurred. "We haven't done anything besides exercises and info gathering these past two years until we went after that damn head. And look where that landed us."

"…Tseng, she has no tolerance to alcohol, I want you to work with her on that," Vincent said, for a moment falling back into being their instructor and leader.

"Yes sir," he said before tipping back his glass.

"And you Rufus," Vincent said, getting back to him, "what have you been doing?"

"I've been trying to clean up my mess."

"Good, in that case," Vincent reached a hand over and shook his. "I hope you have one hell of mop." Reno, Rude, and Tseng laughed while Elena and Rufus, and Yuffie from the corner table, stared at him. Those three, having been with him one several drinking excursions, knew that he would occasionally joke while he was drinking. But to the other three, it was almost a sign of Armageddon.

"Oh, you want to talk a mess, what about you and that ninja, Yuffie?" Reno asked. "I mean, you love her, she loves you, why don't you just go up to her, sweep her into your arms, tell her, and give her a kiss that will make her knees give out." To emphasize this he tried to do it to Elena and was given a punch that sent him across the room.

"Like that just without the punch," Reno said, getting back in his seat.

"Because the problem is that I want to do just that. I want to hold her and to forget the rest of the world. But…"

"But…"Elena prodded.

"But I can't stand the thought of being with her and being unable to grow old with her. You three must have realized by now that I'm not aging. I…I won't watch that." Vincent said, talking as loose as he has ever.

"Well, that's stupid. Why don't you just get rid of the cause," Elena said, fully drunk now.

After that, they changed the subject and continued to drink until they each passed out. But Yuffie didn't care, because at last she knew why. She got up and walked over to him. In his claw hand was a long black box with her name on it in gold lettering. Opening it, she smiled at the necklace and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"I'll wait, Vinnie, as long as you need me too, I'll wait.

Author Notes: There you have it people, the conclusion of Advent Children. You didn't think the title meant the whole thing, did you? I know that this chapter was a bit short but did it really need to be long?

You know, it took me forever to figure out how to get it all out in the open without closing the story. And then it hit me. Why not have a drinking scene with the Turks? And after that, it was easy. And I really needed to do something more with Vincent knowing them from back when they were only fourteen and fifteen.

The song is 'I Ran,' by A Flock of Seagulls. Is it me or did that describe Yuffie? Anyway, I don't own Final Fantasy 7 or Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children.

ONWARD TO DIRGE OF CERBERUS!!!


End file.
